A subordinate unit of the U.S. Air Warfare Center (USAFWC) at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, under the 505th Command and Control Wing (CCW), at Hurlburt Field, Florida, the 505th Command and Control Wing (CCW), Detachment 1 is located at Fort (Ft) Leavenworth, Kansas, and has roots dating back to the 1970s. Detachment 1 (Det 1) is the principle airpower advisor to the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command, Combined Arms Center (CAC) for present and future weapons systems, capabilities, ordinance, tactics, procedures, and limitations as they influence U.S. Army force structure, doctrine, concepts, training, modeling and simulation, acquisition, and analysis programs. Although geographically separated, the 505 CCW, Det 1 is a critical component in developing America's command and control (C2) dominance and integrating U.S. Air Force capabilities with the U.S. Army.
MISSION
The mission of the 505 CCW, Det 1 is to provide airpower expertise and exercise support to the mission command training program (MCTP) and liaison to Combined Arms Center (CAC). Det 1 provides airpower academics during mission command training (MCT) seminars and doctrinally-correct, theater-specific airpower integration and replication in world-wide computer-simulated MCTP exercises. The Det 1 team includes U.S. Air Force senior mentors, chief of airpower, observer/coach/trainer (OC/Ts), U.S. Air Force planning, exercise control and ‘enablers’ who function to replicate the air component to prepare Soldiers and Airmen for future operations through U.S. Army MCTP Warfighter exercises (WFX).
KEY PROGRAMS
Provide U.S. Air Force subject matter expertise to the MCTP and serve as air OC/Ts during academics and readiness exercises. By memorandum of agreement between USAFWC and CAC, and utilizing AFI 10-204, the U.S. Army/U.S. Air Force Memorandum of Agreement on liaisons, Det 1 works to support multi-echelon MCTP events (Joint Task Force (JTF), Corps, Division and Brigade events) with a mix of expertise, products, and theater air control system (TACS) processes to ensure correct airpower replication and application.
Advise Senior Leaders on all aspects of air component integration into a JTF using U.S. Air Force senior mentors as well as the Det 1 chief of air power who role-plays as the joint force air component commander (JFACC) and Air Operations Center (AOC) director.
Provide JTF commanders, Corps and Division Commanding Generals and staffs detailed explanation on joint doctrine, tactics and procedures, JFACC organizations, airpower employment, targeting, airspace control, and theater air defense systems and capabilities during academics and exercises. Provide briefings, facilitate discussions, augment staff and develop and present after-action reviews and performance feedback to U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force training audience commanders and staff.
PERSONNEL
The 505 CCW, Det 1 has 11 Airmen, five GS civilian, 12 contractor, and 10 Air Force Reserve Component (AFRC) Individual Mobilization Augmentation (IMA) authorizations while the assigned manning level varies around 70-75%.
HISTORY
The U.S. Air Force has maintained a permanent liaison with the U.S. Army CAC at Ft Leavenworth since 1974. Initially, this liaison function worked for Tactical Air Command Plans and Programs (TAC/XP) as the Tactical Air Command liaison officer (TACLO). When the Battle Command Training Program, now MCTP, was established in 1986, four additional U.S. Air Force billets were created at Ft Leavenworth to work with MCTP. These additional billets belonged to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space (AF/XOX). The O-6 commander worked for AF/XOX and was initially assigned a duty title of MCTP vice commander. In 1992, the U.S. Air Force reorganized, and TAC became Air Combat Command (ACC). At that time, the TACLO at Ft Leavenworth became the ACC Joint Program Office (JPO) and worked directly for ACC/XP. At the same time, ACC/XP absorbed the AF/XOX billets into the JPO program. In 1997, the ACC JPO aligned as an operating location (OL) under the newly created Air Force Doctrine Center (AFDC). In the fall of 2003, the AFDC OL at Ft Leavenworth became Detachment 1 of the USAFWC. In June 2005, Det 1 was realigned again under the USAFWC and became the 505th Command and Control Wing Detachment 1 at Ft Leavenworth, and that is the unit designation today—505 CCW, Det 1.
Although the patches and higher headquarters of this organization changed throughout the years, the mission of the unit has not. Det 1 was initially assigned liaison duty with the CAC to provide air-ground integration and maneuver exercise support. This included work with the TRADOC Analysis Center (TRAC), Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), the Mission Command Battle Lab (MCBL), the National Simulation Center (NSC), and of course, MCTP. Although Det 1 still provides some support to all these CAC activities, current worldwide combat operations shifted unit focus to almost exclusively MCTP Warfighter Exercise training and direct support.
Throughout the years the manpower to support the Headquarters Air Force-assigned mission was held predominantly by 15 active duty and federal civilians, until October 2010 when the AFRC assigned 23 (now 12) manpower billets. In 2019, ACC funded 12 total contract authorizations to round out Det 1’s Total Force Integration manning roster to 38.
505 CCW PUBLIC AFFAIRS
For more information about the 505 CCW, Det 1’s mission, contact the 505 CCW Public Affairs Advisor at 850-884-9476 or 505ccw.pa.publicaffairs@us.af.mil.
(Current as of April 2024)