283rd CBCS Part of Continental Air Defense ; To Test Rapid Deployment Capability

The Dobbins-based 283rd Combat Communications Squadron of the Georgia Air National Guard is playing a role in DOD plans for the creation of a Mobile Air Defense capability for U.S. skies.

File Photo of the 283rd members and unit equipment.

In July, Defense officials are set to demonstrate a rapidly deployable air defense system that could protect high profile national targets against cruise missiles and other low-flying threats. The Georgia Guardsmen will provide vital communications links for this unique test and will deploy for this month-long test scheduled to occur off the West Coast.

“Forty-four of our personnel with various communications specialties-- satellite and microwave communications, and secure and non-secure voice and data specialists, will be deploying with more than 153,000 pounds of sophisticated communications equipment to Point  Mugu CA,” said Lt. Col. Tom Dixon, Commander of the 283rd CBCS.

According to U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) officials, the operation will employ Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard assets that will coordinate activities through a Joint Air Defense Operations Center, or JADOC.

The capacity of D-HACMD (Deployable Homeland Air and Cruise Missile Defense) “must be to defend geographic regions within the United States as directed by the president or secretary of defense and should be capable of defeating a full spectrum of anticipated air threats, including low-observable and low altitude air vehicles, “according to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

The 283rd Combat Communications Squadron is responsible for all communications connectivity supporting this test, said Dixon. Communications support will include the installation of heavy satellite equipment providing voice and data services to include radar imagery from across the west coast of the United States.   

“While deployed, we will send sophisticated radar pictures of potential air threats to a Joint Based Expeditionary Connectivity Center (JBECC), one of only two in existence” said Dixon. The JBECC is a mobile connectivity shelter that can process and link disparate radar data.  The JBECC can rapidly deployed to plug in air defense holes. The 283rd will feed tactical radars into the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) and they, in return, will send multiple radar feeds through our equipment to the JBECC. 

A similar air defense center was established two years ago at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC to protect the skies over the nation’s capital.  Again, Air National Guardsmen of the 117th Air Control Squadron of the Georgia Air National Guard were involved in the initial operations of this defensive capability for our nation’s capital.

In theory, NORTHCOM is looking to develop a mobile version of the permanent air defense system in the capital. The D-HACMD concept of operations “establishes procedure for employing highly responsive, scalable integrated air defense packages designed to protect vital venues and infrastructure.”

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