US Air Force teaching Iraqis command and control

BAGHDAD — U.S. airmen are teaching command-and-control techniques to their counterparts at the Iraqi air operations center at Camp Victory here. The operations center is the hub that controls all Iraqi air force missions, where mission planners analyze weather conditions, intelligence and the status of their aircraft to make decisions regarding the command and control of air operations within the rebuilding country. A team of 10 U.S. Air Force advisors from the Coalition Air Force Training Team are teaching Western-style command-and-control structure to the Iraqis, most of whom are more familiar with Soviet-style command structure. “In the Soviet style of managing command and control, it was very rigid,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Gary Kubat, the top advisor at the Iraqi air operations center. “Any decisions that were made had to be made by the top.” Western command and control encourages more information sharing throughout command channels so airmen aren’t totally reliant on the highest levels of leadership to get things done. Kubat said he has spent the past year encouraging Iraqis to empower their mid-level commanders to make more decisions that are appropriate for their level. In its position between the Iraqi air force’s top leaders and the tactical units that perform the missions, the operations center fulfills a key role in Western-style command and control. For the Iraqis, the changes in command structure initially were as foreign as the U.S. airmen who were teaching them. “When it first started out, there weren’t a lot of Iraqis looking to do command and control,” the colonel said. “They didn’t quite understand that they had decisions to make at this level. When anything would happen, they would push it up the leadership chain and expect somebody else to make the decision.” Change is starting to take effect at the operations center. “Now as we have been moving along, they have been aggressively taking on more and more of that decision making at lower levels,” Kubat said . The growing capabilities of the operations center are illustrated by the increasing number of missions flown by Iraqi airmen. Last year, the Iraqi air force flew fewer than 100 missions per week. In past three months, the average weekly number of flights has jumped to 271, with a record of 383 flown in mid-April. So far this year, the Iraqi air force has flown more than 5,000 missions in support of the global war on terror, including combat operations in Basra, Mosul and Sadr City. The operations center also controls noncombat missions that contribute to the security of the Iraqi people and their democratic government. This year, Iraqi surveillance aircraft exposed smugglers who were damaging the government’s oil pipeline. Additionally, other Iraqi aircraft flew above a religious pilgrimage, discouraging terrorist groups from attacking them. “This, in turn, tends to makes the population a little bit happier with their government, because things are becoming more stable,” Kubat said. “While they may not recognize the direct impact of the air force, they’re seeing their government as an entity become more secure, more stable and providing for their needs.” The public’s improved confidence in the government should make things tougher on terrorist insurgents.