Updating the TACS/AAGS for Large-Scale Combat Operations

Authors

• Matthew Neuenswander, Joint Integration Directorate, U.S. Air Force Curtis E. LeMay Center; U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Combined Arms Center

Abstract

This article reviews the evolution of the Theater Air Control System/Army Air-Ground System (TACS/AAGS) and assesses whether its current structure is adequate for large-scale combat operations. Since the Vietnam War, TACS/AAGS has provided the command-and-control framework for integrating Army and Air Force operations involving joint fires, close air support, air interdiction, airspace control, intelligence, and other air-ground missions. The author argues that decades of counterinsurgency operations, changing Army force structures, emerging long-range fires organizations, dispersed command posts, and Air Force reductions in Tactical Air Control Party personnel have created new challenges for joint air-ground integration. Additional complications include unresolved questions about Air Support Operations Center placement, support to Multi-Domain Task Forces and other echelons above corps, coalition interoperability, and the ability to manage airspace and fires in contested environments. The article recommends a senior-level Army-Air Force review of the TACS/AAGS, followed by revised inter-Service agreements, doctrine, tactics, techniques, procedures, and multinational guidance. Updating the system, the author argues, is necessary to preserve effective air-ground integration as the joint force prepares for peer conflict and future large-scale combat operations.