Direct Air Support Center
Encyclopedia
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
aviation command and control
Command and Control (military)
Command and control, or C2, in a military organization can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commanding officer over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission...
system and the air control agency responsible for the direction of air operations directly supporting ground forces. It functions in a decentralized mode of operation, but is directly supervised by the Marine Tactical Air Command Center (TACC) or the Navy Tactical Air Control Center (NTACC). During amphibious or expeditionary operations, the DASC is normally the first MACCS agency ashore and usually lands in the same category (i.e.,scheduled or on call wave) as the Ground Combat Element's
Ground combat element
In the United States Marine Corps, the Ground combat element is the land force of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force . It provides power projection and force for the MAGTF.-Role within the MAGTF:...
(GCE's) senior Fire Support Coordination Center (FSCC). The DASC's parent unit is the Marine Air Support Squadron (MASS) of the Marine Air Control Group (MACG).
Role
The DASC processes immediate air support requests; coordinates aircraft employment with othersupporting arms; manages terminal control assets supporting GCE and combat service support
element forces; and controls assigned aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and itinerant aircraft transiting through DASC controlled airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
. The DASC controls and directs air support activities that effect the GCE commander's focus on close operations and those air missions requiring integration with the ground combat forces (close air support
Close air support
In military tactics, close air support is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are close to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces.The determining factor for CAS is...
[CAS], assault support and designated air reconnaissance). The DASC does not normally control
aircraft conducting deep air support (DAS) missions as detailed coordination of DAS missions is not required with ground forces. However, the DASC will provide battle damage assessments (BDAs) and mission reports (MISREPs) from DAS missions to the GCE's senior fire support coordination center (FSCC) and TACC when required.
Tasks
- Receive the Air Tasking OrderAir tasking orderAn air tasking order is a means by which the Joint Forces Air Component Commander controls air forces within a joint operations environment. The ATO is a large document written in United States Message Text Format that lists air sorties for a fixed 24-hour period, with individual call signs,...
(ATO) from the TACC (Marine or Navy) and coordinate planned direct air support. - Receive, process and coordinate requests for immediate direct air support.
- Adjust planned schedules, divert airborne assets, and launch aircraft as necessary when delegated authority by the aviation combat element (ACE) commander and in coordination with the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF)force fires coordination center (FFCC) or GCE senior FSCC.
- Coordinate the execution of direct air support missions with other supporting arms through the appropriate FFCC/FSCC and, as required, with the appropriate MACCS agencies.
- Receive and disseminate pertinent tactical information reported by aircraft performing direct air support missions.
- Provide aircraft and air control agencies with advisory and threat information to assist in the safe conduct of flight.
- Monitor, record and display information on direct air support missions.
- Maintain friendly and enemy ground situation displays necessary to coordinate direct air support missions.
- Provide direct air support aircraft and other MACCS agencies with information concerning the friendly and enemy situation.
- Refer unresolved conflicts in supporting arms to the FFCC/FSCC fire support coordinator (FSC).
Current Units
- Marine Air Support Squadron 1Marine Air Support Squadron 1Marine Air Support Squadron 1 , callsign "Chieftain," is a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provides the Direct Air Support Center capability for the II Marine Expeditionary Force...
(MASS-1) - 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing2nd Marine Aircraft WingThe 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing is the major east coast aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps and is based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina...
- Marine Corps Air Station Cherry PointMarine Corps Air Station Cherry PointMarine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, USA, in the eastern part of the state...
, Cherry Point, North Carolina - Marine Air Support Squadron 2Marine Air Support Squadron 2Marine Air Support Squadron 2 , is a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provides the Direct Air Support Center for the III Marine Expeditionary Force...
(MASS-2) - 1st Marine Aircraft Wing1st Marine Aircraft WingThe 1st Marine Aircraft Wing is an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps that serves as the Aviation Combat Element of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The wing is headquartered at Camp Foster on the island of Okinawa, Japan...
- Marine Corps Air Station FutenmaMarine Corps Air Station FutenmaMarine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, northeast of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 4,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and has been a U.S. military airbase since the island was occupied...
, Okinawa, Japan - Marine Air Support Squadron 3Marine Air Support Squadron 3Marine Air Support Squadron 3 , is a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provides the Direct Air Support Center for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...
(MASS-3) - 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing3rd Marine Aircraft WingThe 3d Marine Aircraft Wing is the major west coast aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California and provides the aviation combat element for I Marine Expeditionary Force...
- Marine Corps Base Camp PendletonMarine Corps Base Camp PendletonMarine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and serves as its prime amphibious training base...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... - Marine Air Support Squadron 6Marine Air Support Squadron 6Marine Air Support Squadron 6 , is a reserve United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provides the Direct Air Support Center for the Marine Forces Reserve...
(MASS-6) - 4th Marine Aircraft Wing4th Marine Aircraft WingThe 4th Marine Aircraft Wing is the reserve airwing of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana but its subordinate units are scattered throughout the United States...
- Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
& Westover Air Reserve Base, Chicopee, MassachusettsChicopee, MassachusettsChicopee is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States of America. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 55,298, making it the second largest city in...
World War II
The early forerunners of today's Tactical Air Control PartyTactical Air Control Party
The Tactical Air Control Party, commonly abbreviated TACP, is a small team of Army, Marine or Air Force personnel who provide airspace deconfliction and terminal control of Close Air Support at battle group level or below...
units were the Air Liaison Parties that accompanied the front-line divisions and served to request close air support and direct (but not control — the front was too narrow) aircraft to the target. Coordination of lower-echelon air requests became the province of four Landing Force Air Support Control Units (LFASCUs).
Korean War
Battle of Inchon
The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations . The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital Seoul two...
, Battle of Seoul
Battle of Seoul
The five battles of the Korean War fought in and around the city of Seoul are known as the Battle of Seoul:*First Battle of Seoul - North Korean capture of Seoul in July 1950...
, Battle of Chosin Reservoir
Battle of Chosin Reservoir
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as the Chosin Reservoir Campaign or the Changjin Lake Campaign ,Official Chinese sources refer to this battle as the Second Phase Campaign Eastern Sector . The Western Sector is the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River. was a decisive battle in the Korean War...
, the East Central Front, and the Western Front.
What became to be known as the Marine Air Support Radar Team....TPQ 10...Devstate Charlie... all began at the Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, CA in 1949. A small group of Marines, four officers (Captains Dalby, Johnston and Dressin and First Lt. Harris) and eight enlisted technicians (MSgts Hayden,Holtz, Dickover:TSgt Seissiger: SSgt Leber, Waggener, Darrow: and Cpl Gramza) Formed an ad hoc Marine organization...called the Marine Guided Missile Section...and with the assistrance of the German scientist Dr. Wagner conceived, built and tested a computer that would take the information from a tracking radar and provide the course for a LOON missile (the old German V-1 )to fly to a designated target. At the computed time the wings were blown off the missile and it would fall toward the target. During the testing period, since missiles were not readily available, a drone aircraft was flown as the missile and water filled bombs were dropped on the target (The pilot would not have liked us to blow the wings off!) The tests revealed that an all weather bombing system had been developed that could provide close air support. The original radar in the system was an SCR 784 borrowed from the Army at Ft. Bliss TX. The computer was in a van and not packaged for combat. When it was decided to send the system to Korea the computer was repacked in a 1/4 Ton trailer and the SCR 784 was replaced with the radar TPQ 10. After tests in the area near El Centro and at Camp Pendleton, the original group was augmented with other Marines and the 1st MARST was born, assigned to the 1st WAW, MTACS-2(who was radio call sign DEVASTATE)....and the 1st MASRT was DEVSTATE CHARLIE... The team joined the !st Marine Division in reserve in June 1951. What was to be a relative short combat evaluation became extended when the effectiveness of the system dictated that the system remain as a regular unit in the Air Wing. Of the original group of Marines at NAMTC, Point Mugu only two survive... LtColonel Robert G. Harris and LtColonel John Seissiger...all retired. The leader, Colonel M. C. Dalby died in 2008.
Vietnam
Battle of Khe Sanh
The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted in northwestern Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam , between 21 January and 9 July 1968 during the Vietnam War...
, where poor weather made conventional Close air support methods unreliable. The AN/TPQ-10 had a 50 yards (45.7 m) Circular error probable
Circular error probable
In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's precision...
and could handle up to 105 missions a day. The commander of the Khe Sanh defense, Col. David M. Lownds, said "Anything but the highest praise would not have been enough." By the end of the war, the DASCs and ASRTs participated in virtually every major Marine combat operation.
The 1980s and the Gulf War
In the early 1980s, the AN/TPQ-10 was replaced by the more sophisticated AN/TPB-1D, which, after extensive service in Operation Desert Storm, was removed from service due to the growing technological sophistication of onboard navigation and weapons delivery systems in modern fixed and rotary wing aircraft. During Operation Desert Storm the DASC was operational for 984 hours. They controlled 4948 fixed wing missions and 839 rotary wing missions. During this time they received 375 immediate joint tactical air requests (JTARs), 114 immediate assault support requests (ASRs) and 153 immediate medevacs.Operation Iraqi Freedom
For the 2003 invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, the DASC for the I Marine Expeditionary Force was provided by MASS-3 with augmentation from MASS-1 and MASS-6. It was broken up into a main echelon (DASC Main) and a forward echelon (DASC Fwd). The main was attached to the Main Headquarters of the 1st Marine Division while the forward was attached to the Division "Jump Command Post (CP)." The DASC (Fwd) was also apart of Task Force Tripoli
Task Force Tripoli
Task Force Tripoli was a United States Marine Corps air ground task force formed after the fall of Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They were commanded by Brigadier General John F. Kelly, then Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division, and its mission was to continue the...
when they went into Tikrit
Tikrit
Tikrit is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river . The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 260,000 is the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate.-Ancient times:...
at the end of the invasion. Air support Marines also provided a smaller DASC for Task Force Tarawa
Task Force Tarawa
Task Force Tarawa was the name given to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They were a Marine Air-Ground Task Force commanded by Brigadier General Richard F...
, the British Forces on the Al Faw Peninsula, staffed a DASC(A) detachment out of Sheik Isa Airbase, Bahrain, then later Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait and provided Air Support Liaison Teams (ASLTs) to all of the regiments within the 1st Marine Division.
MASS-3 returned to Iraq with the 1st Marine Division to provide air support in January 2004. They were based out of Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi
Ramadi
Ramadi is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate.-History:Ramadi is located in a fertile, irrigated, alluvial plain.The Ottoman Empire founded Ramadi in 1869...
and were replaced in January 2005 by MASS-1. The DASC moved to Camp Fallujah near the city of Fallujah
Fallujah
Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....
in January 2006 around the same time that MASS-3 returned to Iraq to retake the air support mission in Al Anbar Province. MASS-1 again switched out with MASS-3 in early 2007 and currently provide air support for the 2nd Marine Division.