Proactive CAS for Company Commanders

Currently, even though emergency Close Air Support (CAS) is generally available, maneuver company commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan are unable to proactively plan for CAS. Army leadership has asked that JTACs be made available to the company level instead of at the battalion level where they are now attached. Although Air Force leadership has made some efforts to increase the number of qualified JTACs, the target number of around 1,000 personnel will not be reached until 2012. Additionally, once the JTACs are available, the Air Force leadership is concerned about the number of sorties required to keep them current. In order to produce the number of JTACs requested sooner, this paper makes three recommendations: 1) Expand Joint Air-Ground Operations Group (JAGOG) school at Nellis AFB, NV; 2) The Army JTAC, JFO and the basic equipment they require; 3) Change the deployment of all Air Support Operations Squadrons (ASOS) to one year instead of breaking the ASOS into three parts with four month tours for each airman.

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