WASHINGTON Ñ The United States has prepared advanced command and
control facilities in the Persian Gulf to conduct an air and ground war
against Iraq.
U.S. officials said Central Command has installed advanced C2 systems in
Gulf Cooperation Council states. They include facilities in Kuwait, Qatar
and Saudi Arabia.
Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
the facilities are reflective of a transformation of the military. Myers
told a military industry conference on Jan. 14 that this has included the
link between aircraft and ground stations and commanders.
"In Kuwait, the theater ground force commander has a command-and-control
suite that is comparable to what the air-component commander has at Prince
Sultan Air Base [in Saudi Arabia]," Myers told the Armed Forces
Communications and Electronics Association conference. "This is a big leap
forward for the ground component. What I saw last month was
our joint team building a web, if you will, of shared information.
[On Tuesday, a U.S. civilian was killed and another was wounded in a
shooting attack near a military base outside Kuwait City. U.S. officials
said at least one gunman was involved in the attack on the Americans,
identified as civilian contractors for the U.S. military.]
Myers said the facilities in the Gulf reflect what the military terms
transformation. He said this this would allow commanders to issue quicker
decisions regarding the situation on the battlefield and promote cooperation
between air, ground and naval commanders for joint operations.
"If they have a common picture of the battlefield, they're able to share
information, then they're much more likely to have trust and confidence in
each other's ability to fill the gaps and seams that are going to occur in
the battlespace," Myers said.
