Combined Air Operations Centre

This article is about Combined Air Operations Centre in accordance with German army regulation (HDv 100/900) in line to the NATO command structure. It should not be confused with the Air and Space Operations Center as a type of command center used by the United States Air Force.

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

US CAOC at Al Udeid Air Base, 2009

Combined Air Operations Centre (short: CAOC) is according to the German army regulation German: Heeresdienstvorschrift (HDv) 100/900 defined as – «A multinational headquarters for tactical and operational control of NATO Air Forces below the Joint Force Command level».

Within the European NATO command structure it is subordinated to the Component Command – Air, and is superior to Control and Reporting Centres. NATO may operate in Europe static and deployable CAOCs.

Predecessor organizations of the CAOC were Air Tactical Operations Centre (ATOC) and Air Defence Operations Centre (ADOC). Until 1980 the two HQs for air attack and air defence operated autonomously.

Active CAOCs

• Combined Air Operations Centre Uedem (CAOC UE) - Uedem, Germany.^[1]
• Combined Air Operations Centre Torrejon (CAOC TJ) - Torrejon, Spain.^[2]
• Deployable Air Command and Control Centre (DACCC PR) - Poggio Renatico, Italy.^[3][4]

• Emblems of CAOCs in NATO Europe
• 

  CAOC UE

• 

  CAOC TJ, Torrejon

• 

  DACCC PR

Inactive CAOCs

• CAOC 1 - Finderup (Jutland), Denmark (deactivated in 2008, replaced at same location by CAOC Finderup)
• CAOC 2 - Uedem, Germany (deactivated in 2008, replaced at same location by Deployable CAOC Uedem

Deployable)^[5]

• CAOC 3 - Reitan, Norway (deactivated in 2008, responsibility moved to Combined Air Operations Centre Finderup)
• CAOC 4 - Meßstetten, Germany (deactivated in 2008, responsibility moved to CAOC Udem
• CAOC 5 - Poggio Renatico, Italy (deactivated in 2013, replaced at same location by Deployable CAOC)
• CAOC 6 - Eskisehir, Turkey^[6] (deactivated in 2013, responsibility moved to Combined Air Operations Centre Torrejon)
• CAOC 7 - Larissa, Greece^[7] (deactivated in 2013, responsibility moved to CAOC Torrejon)
• CAOC 8 - Torrejon, Spain^[8] (deactivated in 2013, replaced at same location by CAOC Torrejon)
• CAOC 9 - RAF High Wycombe, United Kingdom (deactivated in 2008, responsibility moved to CAOC Finderup)
• Balkans CAOC - Vicenza, Italy (deactivated in 2001)^[9]
• CAOC 10 - Lisbon, Portugal^[10] (deactivated in 2013, responsibility moved to Combined Air Operations Centre-Torrejon)
• CAOC F - Finderup, Denmark^[11] (deactivated in 2013, responsibility moved to CAOC Uedem)
• DCAOC UD - Deployable CAOC Uedem, Germany^[12] (deactivated in 2013, replaced at same location by CAOC UD)

References / sources

1. http://www.airn.nato.int/page5851910.aspx
2. http://www.airn.nato.int/page584196.aspx
3. http://www.airn.nato.int/page5861915.aspx
4. "SHAPE | Progress in NATOs Deployable Air Command and Control Capability". aco.nato.int. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
5. "NATO HQ Aircom" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-01-16.
6. CAOC-6 Factsheet
7. Allied Joint Force Command Naples
8. "Air Operations Centre in Spain" - NATO Official Website
9. "Combined Air Operations Center will move to new Italy location". web.archive.org. May 22, 2001. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
10. US Army NATO
11. "NATO HQ Aircom | We're sorry" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-01-16.
12. "CAOC 2: State-of-the-Art Engineering for more Security" Allied Air Component Command HQ Ramstein - Press Release

• MILITÄRISCHES STUDIENGLOSAR ENGLISCH Teil I, A – K, Bundessprachenamt (Stand Januar 2001), page 309, definition: Combined Air Operations Centre [CAOC].
• Article/217803/combined-air-operations-center-caoc