The Quest for Relevant Air Power

162 │ GERMAN Air Force
Chief of the Air Staff
Air Staff
GAF Command
GAF Office
1st AD
2d AD
3d AD
4th AD
Air Transport
Command
Figure 2. Air Force Structure 5 (GAF) simplified diagram. (Adapted
from “The German Air Force Structure 5: Principles, Structures, Capabilities,”
in CPM Forum: German Air Force—Structure and Organisation,
Equipment and Logistics, Programmes and Perspectives, ed.
Wolfgang Flume, in cooperation with the GAF staff, MOD, Bonn, and
editorial coordinator Lt Col (GS) Rainer Zaude [Sankt Augustin, Germany:
CPM Communication Presse Marketing GmbH, 2003], 20.)
The new structure initiated the most substantial improvement
for C2 in the history of the GAF. During the Cold War era, the GAF
had no means at its disposal to conduct air combat operations above
the wing level and fully hinged upon NATO C2 structures. In the
post–Cold War era, with an increasing German commitment to
out-of-area operations, a national capacity for the planning, conduct,
and command of air combat operations became necessary. In
late 2001, the GAF Air Operations Command (Kommando Operative
Führung Luftstreitkräfte) was established at the former location
of Air Force Command North. For the first time in its history, the
postwar GAF was given an autonomous capacity for operational
planning of air operations. The GAF Air Operations Command had
been primarily designed as a national nucleus with 59 posts for a
combined joint force air component command headquarters in the
context of NATO or EU operations. 65
Besides out-of-area operations, 11 September had the biggest
impact upon the C2 structure of the GAF. As a response to renegade
planes, an interministerial National Air Defence Operations