Network Centric Command Decision Services Netcds For The Component Numbered Air Force 7th Air Force Korea And 13th Air Force

Network-Centric Command Decision Services (netCDS) for the Component Numbered Air Force (7th Air Force Korea and 13th Air Force).

The structure of the United States Air Force is changing with Headquarters United States Air Force Program Directive 06-09, entitled "Implementation of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Direction to Establish Force Component Organization," As Component Number Air Forces (C-NAF) operationalize the directive, Command and Control systems must adapt with a network centric environment that supports distributed operations between the tactical and operational levels of war, to include reachback for shared resources and capabilities. C2 systems are required to enable the commanders to quickly focus on priority issues with appropriate and sufficient information to make decisions or to monitor tasks that the AFFOR Staff is executing. The AFFOR Staff requires enhanced situational awareness and collaboration capability to plan, monitor, and sustain operations. This requirement will enable the AFFOR staff to actively think and innovate with a focus on airpower analysis, planning, and execution - not a battle rhythm synchronized around static tools such as briefing slides and spreadsheets. This paper reports an action research case analysis of the employment of a network centric command decision service (netCDS) at the 7th and 13th Air Forces over an 18 to 24 month period. Critical guiding principals for this case analysis are the Network Centric Operations (NCO) framework, technology adoption and the Technology Transition Model as well as decision-making and human communication theories that can be used to examine and explain the behavior of users of network centric operation systems.

Air Force Cyber Command (provisional) Decision Support

Because cyberspace can affect core missions and capabilities, it seems obvious that the Air Force should take steps to establish an organization to address this medium. The details have been difficult to establish, however, because this medium is very different from air and space. The Air Force initially instituted a provisional major command and but has since instead replaced it with a numbered air force, the 24th Air Force, under Space Command. The authors have been involved in efforts to make the missions, tasks, and capabilities of such a command more concrete. Here, they offer observations originally intended for the major command but that apply equally well to the efforts of 24th Air Force: the needs to articulate objectives clearly; establish strategies, missions, and tasks; and develop people capable of ensuring that USAF-specific needs are met. The Air Force must also consider that cyber-related responsibilities spread across the military and other government agencies. But to expand its mission to [beta]fly and fight in cyberspace, [gamma] the Air Force should also advance the state of the art in creating effects using cyberspace.

The Implementation of Network-centric Warfare