Total force integration alive, well at 107th ACS

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Janet Haliburton
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Approximately 30 miles from Luke Air Force Base is an example of the Total Force Integration concept.

The 107th Air Control Squadron is an Air National Guard unit located in Phoenix on the Papago Park Military Reservation.

The 107th unit has a unique mission and a "blended" group of military professionals that perform its mission, according to Lt. Col. Pamela Jackson, 107th ACS commander.

Awards from the 107th ACS and 56th Training Squadron are displayed on the walls and represent the benefits of forming a team of active-duty Airmen and Air National Guardsmen, with the "one team, one fight," concept spoken of by Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne in his latest Letter to Airmen.

"As an Air National Guard unit, we are the only unit in the Air Force that trains weapons directors for the Air Force and ANG and this makes us unique," said Colonel Jackson.

The 107th ACS has been in the weapons director training business since Total force integration alive, well at 107th ACS 1999 when they began training full time.

Currently the 107th ACS has 45 full time guardsmen, 90 weekend guardsmen, and 53 active-duty personnel from the 56th TRS operating at location Bravo and 64 students who annually attend the four-and-a-half-month weapons director course.

The unit supported the Operation Noble Eagle as a control and reporting center and deployed its members all over the world in support of national security objectives by providing command and control and battle management to the combatant commanders.

The unit has mobilized for conflicts such as the Korean War, Cold War, war on drugs and the Bosnian/Kosovo Conflict.

Among the many successes of the 107th ACS is Senior Airman Tiffany Mendoza, 56th TRS/OL-B, who won the 56th Operations Group Airman of the Year award for 2005 and Senior Master Sgt. Joe Sluder, 107th ACS weapons director instructor, who won the 19th Air Force Weapons Director Instructor of the Year for 2005.

The 107th weapons directors also competed in the 56th OG and 56th Maintenance Group Turkey Shoot competition June 30.

Weapons directors provide command and control information by interpreting radar data and communicating with pilots over radios to effectively conduct a mission. They are responsible for both air defense and tactical air control which ensures the protection of North America.

"Our instructor weapons directors, air battle managers and students use the unit's call sign, autumn, when providing command and control to the instructor pilots and their students when they are flying their more complex tactical intercept training missions, air combat training missions and large force employment training missions in the ranges located in Arizona," said Colonel Jackson.

The weapons directors help identify aircraft, through a transportable radar system, as friend or foe and also help pilots of high performance fighters target and prosecute unidentified or hostile aircraft that are threatening our personnel or sovereign areas.

"Our transportable radar system is a long-range radar for search and identification," said Colonel Jackson. "It turns 360 degrees every 10 seconds and can see a distance of 240 miles, and an altitude of 99,000 feet. Because of this we call it a three dimensional radar."

Since 1999, the unit has graduated more than 200 weapons directors.

The student population consists of junior enlisted and noncommissioned officers from the Air National Guard and active duty who have experience at an ACS or an air defense unit.

The weapons director course is four and a half months long and consists of 294 hours of intense academics that includes four written tests. It consists of 426 hours of positional training which includes 310 hours of training with a simulator and 116 hours training with actual aircraft, F-16s, flying training combat missions. The weapons director student's goal is to become an effective wingman for the pilots they control.

The weapons director also assists the aircrews with aerial refueling operations, search and rescue missions, and emergency operations and procedures.

The 107th ACS is looking to move to Luke in the next year, said Colonel Jackson.

"If all of the bosses agree, we could be in-place as early as December 2007," she said. "We will be able to interact more with the wing and participate in base activities."

For more information on the Arizona ANG, visit www.az.ngb.army.mil/hqang.