Aviano 'Scorpions' expand combatant commanders' sight picture

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Michael O'Connor
  • 31st Fighter Wing public affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  Airmen from the 603rd Air Control Squadron proved the proof is in their poison as they set course to lay to rest quarter-century-old equipment during their Air Expeditionary Force 5/6 deployment to Southwest Asia. 

Dubbed the 'Scorpions,' the more than 60 Airmen who returned here Jan. 24 and the 60-plus who replaced them in early January, forged a plan to sting the enemy with a dose of 21st century technology called Battlespace Command and Control Center--BC3. While deployed, they laid the groundwork for and began bringing online to replace the aging and costly AN/TYQ-23, an automated computer-based information system, riddled with maintenance upkeep. 

"Our Airmen hit the ground running making a marathon look like a sprint," said Capt. Tim Meerstein, who was the chief of maintenance for the 71st EACS while deployed. "They didn't let up the entire rotation. Their efforts ensured there were no single points of failure during the phased transition from the old to the new." 

While deployed to the 71st EACS, the Scorpions provided persistent, long-range radar detection in the Arabian Gulf, which consists of a 350,000 square nautical mile area, (approximately 402,000 square miles), tracking anyone or anything flying in their area of operations. 

The new BC3 is expected to enhance the unit's capabilities by allowing more operators to control the airspace and take on an expanded mission set that would allow them to control radar operations in multiple theaters at once, from afar. Currently, the 71st EACS staff tracks nearly a 1,000 different aircraft in a day. 

To put things into perspective or in layman's terms, some members of the unit described the swap-out of the AN/TYQ-23 for the BC3 like upgrading an F-106 Delta Dart Interceptor to an F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter, or the original Nintendo to the Nintendo Wii gaming system. 

"We took a very combat-focused group of Airmen downrange and they did an outstanding job of accomplishing the mission and making innovations in all aspects of the way our deployed mission was being done," said Maj. Robert Peacock, who commanded the 71st EACS while deployed. 

"I told them, 'It's what you make of it,'" said Major Peacock. "The Scorpions came in and left the deployed unit a much better place. Their combat-focus was the key to our success." 

During their four to six-month deployment, the Aviano-based Airmen not only injected the Combined Air and Space Operations Center with a detailed instantaneous air picture enabling senior leaders to make the best decisions possible, but a variety of the Airmen in the unit stepped-up and made a difference in other areas as well, said Captain Meerstein. 

"By fulfilling critical civil engineer squadron maintenance repairs on our equipment and facilities, our mission was not impacted and the quality of life for our Airmen was improved," said the captain. "It wasn't mission complete for us until we stepped-off the aircraft back here at Aviano." 

Like many of the Air Force Specialy Codes filled by today's Airmen, those in the 603rd ACS are being called up frequently in the Global War on Terror. In the near future, it won't be uncommon for these Airmen to spend half the year deployed and half at home, said Lt. Col. Matthew Smith, 603rd ACS commander as his unit makes its transition toward a possible one-to-one dwell rate. 

Whether these Airmen are in the European Theater in support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization ground forces dating as far back as the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, or assigned to a deployed unit like the 71st EACS in support of Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, the sting of the Scorpions is definitely a force to be rekoned with as they continue to provide a capability designed to prevent what happened at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, from happening again.