A collection of news and information specifically for the C4ISR community

Vol. 4, No. 11
March 20, 2008

ESC squadron preps new CAOC facility for summer installation 

Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds, along with (clockwise from left) 350th Electronic Systems Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Pete Hoene, Col. Mark Bronakowski, Capt. Amber Ward and Hal Steinman examine the floor boxes in the new combined air and space operations center facility during General Bowlds' March 4 visit to the Central Command area of responsibility. The floor boxes will be the main source of power for the CAOC’s workstations and phone lines once installation takes place in July.  (Photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Peargin)

By Monica D. Morales
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

As construction continues on the future home of the United States Air Force Central’s Combined Air and Space Operations Center, 9th Air Force is readying the road for the 652nd Electronic Systems Squadron to begin its summer installation at the CAOC’s new facility.

“This new installation will tremendously enhance the command and control capabilities the CFACC (combined forces air component commander) has in his current facility,” said Capt. Amber Ward, Air and Space Operations Center Weapons System program manager.

The AOC WS, officially referred to as the AN/USQ-163 Falconer, is the planning and execution engine of all air campaigns. It enables the joint or combined forces air component commander, along with supported and supporting commanders, to exercise command and control of air, space, and information operations to achieve the objectives of the combatant commander in joint and coalition military operations.

“After our visit to the CAOC to examine the current and new facilities, it’s easy to envision how our upcoming installation will better equip the warfighter with the tools needed to better execute air operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa,” said Col. Steve Webb, 350th Electronic Systems Group commander.  (More)

Team sets sharp focus on civilian recruiting

Several members of an Electronic Systems Center team that’s focused on enhancing civilian recruiting efforts confer during a team meeting Wednesday. Members seen here include (from left): Larry Coe, vice director of the 551st Electronic Systems Wing, Dr. Susan Arnold of the 554 ELSW, Deputy Personnel Director Sherry Farley, Adam Correau of Contracting, and Jim McMath of ESC’s Capabilities Integration Office.  (Photo by Linda LaBonte-Britt)

By Chuck Paone
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

After just three days of meetings and informal discussions, an ad hoc team of Electronic Systems Center officials has begun planning to beef up the center’s civilian recruiting efforts.

“The incredible energy and enthusiasm demonstrated by people on this team shows just how important they believe this issue is,” said Dr. Joseph Delaney, deputy director of Plans and Programs for the center and team leader. “I’ve even had a number of people who aren’t currently on the team contact me and say they want to participate.”

The team began the process by breaking out the key issues involved – including defining needs, identifying the potential employee types the center wishes to target, and developing new marketing products and approaches. From there, sub teams developed some short-, intermediate- and long-term goals, as well as rough budget estimates and timelines.  (More)

350 ELSG partnership creates lab environment for testing C2 capabilities
Agreement with BAE Systems experiments with transformation of command, control

By Monica D. Morales
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Migrating command and control capabilities into more dynamic and responsive weapon systems is the foremost goal of a recent Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the 350th Electronic Systems Group and BAE Systems.

“We’re very excited about working with BAE on this CRADA,” said Col. Steve Webb, 350 ELSG commander. “In this dynamic environment of information systems and command and control, our partnership is the way to leverage the leading edge of technology long before the acquisition process takes hold.”

The 30-month agreement will provide for a collaborative lab environment to test command and control systems on a case-by-case basis, in addition to conducting important research.

“They [BAE] have some very innovative ideas in terms of command and control and they want to pursue that, but they also want to make sure they are heading in the general direction the Air Force is going,” Colonel Webb said.  (More)

General Bowlds welcomes newcomers

Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds addresses a group of base newcomers during the ESC Commander’s Newcomers' Welcome March 14. The event was hosted by the 554th Electronic Systems Wing and provided newcomers with a brief introduction to the center’s five wings and their primary missions.  (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

Officials detail scope, units of AFCYBER command

Proposed organizational structure for Air Force Cyber Command when it declares initial operations capability. (U.S. Air Force graphic)

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- The work of building Air Force Cyber Command continues with officials releasing details of what the scope of the command will look like and how it will function in lieu of having a permanent base named for its headquarters location.

"We are aggressively moving forward with plans for having initial operations capability by the Oct. 1 deadline mandated for us by the secretary of the Air Force," said Maj. Gen. William T. Lord, AFCYBER (Provisional) commander. "That (IOC) means we will have a portion of the staffing we need and the organizational structure in place to continue to build the command until we reach full operational status."

Conditions for initial operations capability include, but are not limited to, establishing a budget, articulating details of organizational realignments, developing and assigning manpower requirements, and establishing policies and procedures for daily operations. Many of these details are either still being defined or are under review.  (More)

Education With Industry program offers different perspective

Education With Industry participants (left to right) 1st Lt. Julienne White, Capt. James Johnson and 1st Lt. Ana Huffstetler pose outside Sun Microsystems in Burlington, Mass. The three officers have spent the last five months immersed in the culture of a major information technology firm under the cooperative program between Hanscom and Sun. (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

By Kevin Gilmartin
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Three Electronic Systems Center officers are getting a first-hand look at what it’s like to work for a leading Information Technology company during a six-month Education With Industry tour at Sun Microsystems in Burlington, Mass.

Capt. James Johnson, 1st Lt. Julienne White and 1st Lt. Ana Huffstetler are in the fifth month of their six-month tour at Sun Microsystems. The program began in 2003 with a cooperative agreement between ESC and Sun. Participants, both company grade officers and civilians, are nominated by their supervisors, and meet a selection board before being assigned to Sun.

All parties involved agree that the EWI program is a win-win proposition, with benefits for both the Air Force and Sun Microsystems.

“The hands-on experience gained by the participants gives them a better understanding of how contractors operate, and ultimately benefits ESC and the Air Force,” said Sue Angell, director of ESC’s Acquisition Center of Excellence, which administers
the program.  (More)

Mock audit to test Hanscom’s VPP readiness 

By Rhonda Siciliano
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Next week a team of inspectors will visit Hanscom to conduct a mock audit of the base's Voluntary Protection Program.

The six-person team from headquarters Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, and the Department of Defense VPP Center of Excellence will arrive on March 24 and conduct an in-brief session with base leadership and VPP team leaders at the Hanscom Conference Center that day.

"We're excited about this visit and the opportunity to demonstrate how the base has incorporated the elements of VPP into our work areas," said Col. Tom Schluckebier, 66th Air Base Wing commander.

The audit will begin on March 25 when inspectors will visit various Hanscom worksites and meet with employees and supervisors.  (More)

Award nominees head to the city

Electronic Systems Center 2007 Annual Awards nominees, along with Chief Master Sgt. Karen McCoy, ESC command chief, and other visiting ESC chiefs (front row)  pose in front of the Paul Revere statue by the Old North Church during a tour of downtown Boston Tuesday. The tours of local landmarks are part of a week-long line up of activities designed for nominees to experience the rich history of Hanscom and surrounding areas. Finalists will be on hand for the awards banquet at the Hanscom Minuteman Club tonight, where the center’s annual award winners will be selected. See next week's Integrator for a list of winners.   (Photo by Walt Santos)

AF officials implement AFMC's civilian orientation course

By Nicole Singer
Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- When Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley recently sought a way to provide initial training to new Air Force civilians, Gen. Bruce Carlson, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command, offered AFMC's existing, extensive training course created for that reason.

As a result, the Air Force is adopting AFMC's Civilian Orientation Course for use Air Force-wide. The course is the first step in ensuring all Air Force civilians have proper career training and familiarizes them with their new work environment.

All Air Force major commands were notified about the use of AFMC's program in January, said Terry Staley, a professional development analyst for AFMC's Personnel Directorate.

"The official policy is expected in April, but representatives from the MAJCOMs have been here at AFMC and have been involved so they know what is going on with the program," Mr. Staley said. "We're trying to build a whole acculturation process for your entire career. This is the first step for civilian training."  (More)

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Retired Air Force Col. Al Moseley, professor of program management at the Defense Acquisition University (far left), teaches a course titled “Be a Better Leader” March 11. The course was one of many offered during this quarter’s Integration Week. The leadership class challenged attendees to build a working definition of leadership, examined the motives of leaders and followers and looked at how to become a better leader.  (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

The best leaders do get mad.

This statement was among 37 other leadership principles from Retired Maj. Gen. Perry Smith’s “Be a Better Leader” article that was discussed during an Integration Week course March 11.

The class, taught by retired Col. Al Moseley, professor of program management at the Defense Acquisition University, challenged attendees to build a working definition of leadership, examined the motives of leaders and followers and looked at how to become a better leader.

Since retiring from his 30-year Air Force career in 2005 at Hanscom, Mr. Moseley now regularly teaches program management skills courses, to include the leadership course, to Department of Defense lieutenant colonels, GS-14s, industry partners, and equivalent-level individuals at the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Moseley also teaches other courses at the executive level within the School of Program Managers at the university.  (More)

The ABCs of filling an Air Force civilian job 

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Most civilian jobs in the Air Force begin with a request for personnel action, or RPA. They end with an entry on duty, or EOD, date. During the past 12 months, the entire process has taken an average of 136 days from the initial completion of the RPA to a person arriving for duty.

Control of the process changes throughout between the selecting official, the civilian personnel flight staff and the employee candidate, but 86 -- or 62 percent -- of those days happen here at the Air Force Personnel Center.

The 2007 historical averages play out something like this:

The base-level manager takes four days to complete the original RPA. An installation civilian personnel office specialist takes 20 days to route the RPA through classification and other checks and balances.

By the time the RPA arrives at AFPC, the manager has had a vacancy for nearly 30 days. The RPA hits an AFPC Management Advisory Clearing House or MACH "inbox" and a personnelist opens the request immediately, which starts the AFPC clock ticking. This piece of the AFPC staffing process historically takes 40 days.  (More)

DHS aspires to be more like defense
-- National Defense Magazine
When Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff casts his eyes across the Potomac at the Pentagon, apparently he likes what he sees.

Beginning of the end for NSPS?
-- Federal Times
Forced by Congress, the Defense Department plans to start talks with unions as early as this fall to rewrite the pay and personnel rules of the National Security Personnel System.

USAF may put powerful MP-RTIP surveillance radar on KC-45 tankers
-- Inside the Air Force
The Air Force’s top leaders are thinking of adding powerful ground surveillance radar to their newly selected fleet of KC-45A tankers, a move that would add yet another mission capability to the versatile tanker.
 
Military to boost cyber-protections 
-- Associated Press
The military is beefing up efforts to gather intelligence, fend off cyber-attacks and improve relations with other nations as part of a strategy for keeping the United States safe while fighting two wars, according to a Pentagon document.

Miniature radar developed for lightweight UAVs 
-- Defense News
A small Utah company has flown a tiny synthetic aperture radar in a small UAV in an effort to bring all-weather surveillance capabilities to long-loitering tactical UAVs.

Army general to direct Missile Defense Agency 
-- Air Force Times
The president has nominated Army Maj. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly to become director of the Missile Defense Agency. If confirmed by the Senate, O’Reilly, who is now deputy director of the agency, would succeed his boss, Lt. Gen. Henry Trey Obering III.

command comments ...

...  Operation Iraqi Freedom was a remarkable display of military effectiveness. Forces from the UK, Australia, Poland and other allies joined our troops in the initial operations. As they advanced, our troops fought their way through sand storms so intense that they blackened the daytime sky.

… Aided by the most effective and precise air campaign in history, coalition forces raced across 350 miles of enemy territory -- destroying Republican Guard Divisions, pushing through the Karbala Gap, capturing Saddam International Airport, and liberating Baghdad in less than one month. ...

Today, in light of the challenges we have faced in Iraq, some look back and call this period the easy part of the war. Yet there was nothing easy about it. The liberation of Iraq took incredible skill and amazing courage. ...
 

-- President George W. Bush

The Integrator is a weekly product of the 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office designed to give ESC decision makers a snapshot of news affecting the C4ISR community.  This e-publication is approved by Kevin Gilmartin, Chief of Public Affairs, (DSN) 478-4110 or commercial (781) 377-4110.  Back issues are available online.  To facilitate service, please select a link for your e-mails:  
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