Thirteenth Air Force

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Part of Pacific Air Forces, the air component of United States Pacific Command, 13th Air Force, is located at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; it was formerly located at, and continues to use, Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. The command was moved from Guam to Hickam AFB in May 2005.

It is principally a C3I-ISR organization. 13 AF is responsible for providing air, space and information operations to Pacific Command, outside the Korean sub-theater, including Joint Task Force Support Forces Antarctica, a collaborative Department of Defense and National Science Foundation effort supporting the U.S. Antarctic Program through Operation Deep Freeze. [1]

While the Fifth Air Force is the active headquarters unit for USAF units in Japan, Thirteenth AF's Detachment 1 is responsible for planning, coordinating and executing air operations around Japan with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, 5th AF at Yokota, and the 613th Air Operations Center in Hawaii.

Command and control

Its key 613th Air and Space Operations Center and the 613th Support Group. The 613th AOC is one of the Air Force's five full-capability USQ-163|AN/USQ-163 FALCONER command and control systems, with the ability to plan, task, execute, monitor and assess full spectrum air, space, and information operations for the commander of Air Force forces and coalition or joint forces air component commander. The 613th AOC receives augmentation from the 109th AOG, while Tenth Air Force's 713th Combat Operations Squadron provides both full-time and traditional reservists. The U.S. Army's 5th Battlefield Coordination Detachment and the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command are also integrated into the 613th AOC.

The 613th Support Group consists of the 56th Air and Space Communications Squadron, which provides communications support to the AOC, and the 17th Operational Weather Squadron, which handles all weather requirements across the Pacific theater. Additionally, the support group maintains a consolidated commander's support staff providing personnel support for the entire headquarters.

Operational units

Two wings are permanently assigned to 13th AF: the 15th Airlift Wing at Hickam AFB and the 36th Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam. The 15th AW provides strategic, tactical and command airlift to the theater and supports transient aircraft due to Hickam's role as an important en-route location.

Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

The 692nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group at Hickam AFB; and the 1st Air Support Operations Group (ASOG) at Fort Lewis, Wash. The 692nd ISRG is the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency's representative to PACAF and USPACOM, and is responsible for national and tactical ISR operations.

Army support

The 1st ASOG advises Army leadership on employment of airpower and provides operational weather support to army aviation units. The 1st ASOG also supplies joint tactical air control parties that can plug into the AOC, unifying the joint theater air control system within the Pacific.

References

  1. Fact Sheet: Thirteenth Air Force, Thirteenth Air Force