USAFEC looks to synchronize the C2 of GAMSS forces

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Robert Hicks
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs Staff

Senior leaders from the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center enterprise and mobility subject matter experts from the total force global mobility enterprise gathered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, to host a Global Air Mobility Support System Command and Control Summit, Feb. 1-3, 2023.

The Global Air Mobility Support System is a logistics network of Total Force Mobility Airmen and capabilities necessary to project, connect, maneuver, and sustain combat power anywhere on the globe, from the ground up.

Currently, the C2 of GAMSS forces is not as refined of a process as the one utilized for overseeing Mobility Air Force’s aircrew and aircraft. There’s a specific focus on the planning, tasking, executing, and assessing mobility missions, to ensure our strategic leaders have the awareness required for their decision-making space to maintain America's global reach.

According to Col. Greg Cyrus, USAFEC exercise and inspection division director, standardizing and synchronizing C2 of GAMSS forces on par with the C2 of aircraft and aircrew will position our force at the point of need and ensure full asset visibility.

“Fully integrating the command and control of GAMSS forces into the MAF C2 architecture is my number one priority for the MAF,” said Maj. Gen. John Klein, USAFEC commander. “It is foundational to ensuring the timely and successful maneuver of the Joint Force in a theater fight.”

Some of the contingency response forces are currently connected and visible to the 618th Air Operations Center C2 air mobility teams but are tasked at a lower, different echelon per an operating order authorizing “lift and shift” operations. Some of our GAMSS forces are not connected or visible at all within the MAF C2 architecture.

“If the Mobility Forces are the maneuver for the Joint Force, the GAMSS is the bedrock,” Klein said. “You cannot have air mobility without air mobility support.”

Air Mobility Command has four core mission areas: Airlift, Air Refueling, Aeromedical Evacuation, and Global Air Mobility Support. AMC’s GAMSS is made up of a Contingency Response Wing, two Air Mobility Operations Wings and a standalone Air Mobility Operations Group.

“We must optimize existing resources and leverage our Airmen’s ingenuity to maximize connectivity, survivability, and agility,” Cyrus said. “We will identify, generate, employ, and C2 MAF combat capabilities at the speed and scale required across all mission areas so the Joint Force can compete, deter, and win.”