READY FOR TODAY – EVOLVING FOR TOMORROW
The Air Component Combat Operations Division
• You
cannot exchange business
cards whilst in contact. So much of
the GLE’s role is about relationships.
There is the personal side and
clearly it is advantageous to work
alongside people you have met in
the past, especially so if you have
exercised alongside them previously
or on operations. Selecting the right
personnel to work in the Air Component
is also vital as there is no room for
egos or a land-centric approach. For
the Chief GLE the relationships he
develops involve a large element of trust
and credibility. Given a prominent place
in the JFAC command group, he has
access to a number of senior officers
ranging from the Commander (4-star)
to the Deputy Commander (3-star), to
the JFAC Director (1-star). In addition,
at OF-5 level his key interlocutors are
the Chiefs of the Strategy Division (SD)
and Combat Plans Division (CPD),
together with their main sub-branches,
the Master Air Operation Plan (MAOP),
Guidance Apportionment and Targeting
(GAT) and Combat Operations Division
(COD). He is involved in all key
meetings and discussions. Knowing
these people well plays a large role in
how business is conducted and how
both components maintain a clear
understanding of what the other is trying
to achieve, and what their respective
limitations are. However, there is also
the ‘professional’ side to relationships.
Understanding which staff officer in the
JFAC covers which role is critical in
isolating and solving issues before they
become problems. This is something
the whole GLE team became experts
on during TRJE18.
• It’s
a two-way street. Air-land
integration is usually viewed as Air
supporting Land. This is often the case.
However, during TRJE 18 it became
clear very early on that, particularly as
Air strove to gain control in a challenging
environment, Land and Maritime had
capabilities (predominantly stand-off
weapons) that could support Air in its
aims. The processes for such support
to be resourced from Land were not
always clear and certainly not well
practised – an area that requires further
development on the process as well as
the cultural side.
Allied Air Command Headquarters, Ramstein, Germany
ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS
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