The $109 million facility will consolidate the operations of the 461st ACW, 950th SWG, 319th Reconnaissance Wing, 116th ACW and 472nd ECS into a single, purpose-built site. This effort is aimed at enhancing Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control as part of the Air Force’s wider modernisation strategy.
“It took a lot of time, effort and investments to get this building where it’s at,” said Col. Adam Shelton, commander of the 461st ACW. “ACC has put a lot of time into this to make sure that we get it right.”
The BMCOC will feature a tactical operations centre, payload staging and storage areas, a maintenance operations centre, and specialised training and academic spaces for testing critical systems. Infrastructure will include a 239-rack server room, raised flooring, standby generators, uninterruptable power supplies, and robust mission-critical utilities.
“This building will be the operational heartbeat of what we are going to be providing from an electromagnetic spectrum perspective to the warfighter,” said Lt. Col. Laureen James, deputy commander of the 950th SWG. “It is the pinnacle hub for delivering electromagnetic spectrum operation assessments to all of the combat Air Forces.”
The 728th Battle Management Control Squadron operations centre and a headquarters suite will also be located within the BMCOC. These elements will facilitate long-range kill chain integration and enable improved coordination among command and control agencies.
“This facility will build on future cooperation with all our stakeholders in future sustained Battlefield Airborne Communications Node aircraft missions supporting the global joint force coalition,” said Lt. Col. Richard Elmore, commander of the 472nd ECS. “It will be a lot of people working together in a collaborative partnership to ensure that major command mission sets are prioritised and executed.”
A symbolic link to the past was made during the ceremony with the use of the same shovel from the 1994 Joint STARS building groundbreaking. This gesture highlighted the transition from legacy systems to advanced, ground-based battle management technologies.
The BMCOC will operate as a CONUS theatre-agnostic targeting cell, integrating dispersed sensors and command units to provide comprehensive air surveillance. It will bolster the 728th BMCS’s capability to support joint, multi-domain operations across global theatres.
“I can safely say that these three missions will be tightly integrated, whether it’s the spectrum side, airborne communications and networking, or to the future of what we’re doing from a ground-based battle management perspective,” said Shelton. “This site is going to be the future of where the Air Force plans to fight from.”
The project also lays the foundation for the new Air Forces Central Battle Management mission at Robins AFB, providing year-round, distributed battle management command and control for U.S. Central Command. This effort reinforces Robins AFB’s strategic role in supporting the Air Force’s operational readiness and modern warfare initiatives.
“It’s pretty phenomenal – this emphasis and recognition within the Air Force that we have a dedicated space and opportunity to move forward,” said James. “We’re definitely going to get to the future faster.”
