The 595th Command and Control Group—a new Air Force Global Strike Command unit meant to consolidate nuclear command and control operations—was activated Oct. 6 at Offutt AFB, Neb. The 595th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron was formed for the new unit, but the activation otherwise reorganizes the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, the 595th Strategic Communications Squadron, and the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron into the 8th Air Force, according to a 55th Wing Public Affairs release. The activation also consolidates the service’s nuclear command and control communications and results in a transfer of an E-4B nuclear command and control aircraft. “The mission isn’t going to change, we’re just doing it with a different patch,” said Col. Robert Billings, the incoming commander of the 595th CACG. “We’re refocusing our nuclear enterprise and putting it under one command. Instead of Air Combat Command having a part, 20th Air Force having a part, Global Strike having one or two things—now it’s all under Global Strike.” Lt. Col. Deane Konowicz, commander of the 625th STOS, said the consolidation will allow the squadrons with similar missions—command and control—to “provide better advocacy, better mission focus, and ultimately present capabilities uniformly to the combatant commander,” according to the release.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.