New combat center opens

Monday, March 22, 2004 | 9:50 a.m.

Air Force commanders are getting a new place to train and test themselves on how to run air attacks like those seen a year ago in the opening days of the war in Iraq.

The 43,000-square-foot Combined Air and Space Operations Center was expected to open today at Nellis Air Force Base during a visit from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper.

Air operations centers are "fundamental to what makes us a great Air Force," Lt. Gen. Ronald Keys, deputy chief of staff of air and space operations, said. "If you have a group of airplanes but you don't have an air operations center, you don't really have an Air Force. You have a flying club."

The new facility is designed to train Air Force personnel in managing aircraft during battle scenarios. It will also allow for Air Force personnel to train with other branches of the military to learn tactics and gain an understanding of what the different military forces' missions are in a given situation.

The new center will augment training for Nellis' quarterly Red Flag combat exercises, which usually bring more than 100 aircraft and 2,000 people to the base for advanced combat training over the 2.9 million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range.