The Air Force plans to implement what it calls the Installation Control Center at every base to replace the old amalgam of crisis response entities—command post, battle staff, survival recovery center, and wing operations center—that varied from base to base. The new ICC, says USAF officials, will “be familiar” to airmen at home or abroad. The full concept is still being developed, but officials do expect the ICC to be somewhat tailorable to fit the variety of installations throughout the service, but it does provide a “standardized alignment of functions.” Some units already have adopted the ICC, but officials note that the concept is still being refined, with a final test set for Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2008. After that, it goes to the field.
About a dozen B-1 bombers are now at RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom as a base from which to launch strikes on Iran, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine—potentially representing more than half of the U.S. Air Force’s mission-capable Lancer fleet.