Distributed Mission Operations Center marks 30 years

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • 505th Command and Control Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico --  Members of the 505th Distributed Warfare Group and the 705th Combat Training Squadron celebrated the 30th anniversary of U.S. Air Force Modeling and Simulation on Nov. 6 at the Distributed Mission Operations Center here and at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque.

Highlights of the daylong event included a tour of the DMOC battlespace and the organization's museum, dinner, the unveiling of the 30th anniversary painting and a speech by retired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper.

The 705th CTS operates the DMOC, known in 1979 as the Identification Friend, Foe, Neutral facility. The DMOC is the only venue to exercise and integrate theater air control system elements in a robust manner. The 705th CTS and the 505th DWG here, report to the 505th Command and Control Wing, headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Fla., and the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis AFB, Nev.

The wing is an Air Combat Command unit charged with improving warfighter capability through command and control testing, tactics development and training. It also supports joint and coalition forces engaged in all aspects of command and control.

Through the years, the DMOC has supported warfighters through joint test and evaluation, and modeling and simulation. In 1989, IFFN was renamed the Theater Air Command and Control Simulation Facility, tasked with facilitating improved target identification with U.S. and NATO air defense systems. It reported to the Command and Control Training and Innovation Group, which in 2004 became the 505th Command and Control Wing. During this time, it developed tactics, techniques and procedures that are used by today's warfighters.

In the 1990s, the facility became the Air Force hub of distributed simulation capabilities and the largest real-time, tactical-level distributed simulation facility in the world, according to an article in ITEA Journal by Michael Mora.