US Air Force,
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz: Twelfth Air Force and Air Forces Southern will open the Air Force's newest Falconer, the 612th Combined Air Operations Center, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 9.
The 612th Combined Air Operations Center, serves as the operations hub for all air and space activities during combat and humanitarian operations.
“This world-class facility will serve as the home of the only continuously operational Falconer in the continental United States — we're proud to be facilitators of such an essential weapons system,” said Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern commander.
The CAOC serves as the air and space component to U.S. Southern Command. The command and control capabilities of the new facility give the Southern Command commander a tremendous capability. Staffed by a total force of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines it is responsible for maintaining the air picture for the Southern Command in Central and South America, as well as Caribbean operations.
The new facility is one of five “Falconer” CAOC weapons systems used to support geographic combatant commanders worldwide. The other Falconer CAOCs are located in Southwest Asia, Europe, Korea and Hawaii. Each Air Operations Center has responsibility over a specified geographic location and mission.
“The Combined Air Operations Center weapons system at Davis-Monthan is designed to support operations worldwide,” General Seip said. “This CAOC is up and running, helping to execute operations in the Southern Command region, but we're ready for any contingency.”
The 12th AF CAOC will be officially named the General James H. Doolittle Center in honor of General James H. Doolittle, 12th Air Force's first commander, and the Doolittle Raiders, for their heroic actions during World War II. The ribbon cutting and naming of the new CAOC building comes just after the Doolittle Raiders celebrated the 65th anniversary of their attack on the Japanese mainland.
