Adm. Timothy Keating, head of both NORAD and US Northern Command, said Thursday that the US missile defense program buck stops at his door at Peterson AFB, Colo. NORTHCOM, he said, is the “primary operational arm” for missile defense actions because its primary mission is to defend the continental United States. “We have been training for over a year with the hardware and software and the crews who will man the missile systems,” Keating told defense reporters. Currently, NORTHCOM planners are working on a final concept of operations—from managing personnel and equipment assets, such as setting up alert levels and maintaining radar equipment, to pulling the trigger on an incoming “bolt out of the blue,” said Keating.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.