A United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party, commonly abbreviated TACP, is an individual or team of United States Air Force Special Warfare Airmen with AFSC 1Z3X1, who are aligned with conventional, Special Operation Forces, and Tier 1 combat maneuver units. They provide precision terminal attack control and terminal attack guidance of U.S. and coalition fixed- and rotary-wing close air support aircraft, artillery, and naval gunfire; establish and maintain command and control (C2) communications; and advise ground commanders on the best use of air power.
TACPs are Special Warfare airmen who operate in multiple contexts. Most commonly, TACPs serve as the principal Air Force liaison element to the United States Army (USA),Memorandum of Agreement Between the United States Air Force and the United States Army for the Exchange of Liaisons, 31 March 2011. where they align with combat maneuver echelons from Corps to Battalion level. The TACP provides its aligned Army unit with expertise in planning and executing airpower in support of the land component commander's scheme of maneuver. In special operations settings, TACPs deploy with "white" SOF units, including Air Force Special Tactics, Army Special Forces, and Navy SEAL teams, as well with Army Rangers and Joint Special Operations Command Special Mission Units, acting primarily as precision airstrike controllers, communications, and command-and-control experts.
Overview The USAF TACP, when operationally employed as an element of the Theater Air Control System (TACS), is subordinate to the Air Support Operations Center (ASOC), which in turn is subordinate to the Air Operations Center (AOC). The AOC is the senior TACS agency responsible for the centralized control and decentralized execution of airpower in support of the Joint Force Commander.MULTI-SERVICE TACTICS, TECHNIQUES, AND PROCEDURES FOR THE THEATER AIR GROUND SYSTEM, April 2007 The USAF/USA Memorandum requires the USAF to provide Air Liaison Officers, Battalion Air Liaison Officers, enlisted technicians (1Z3X1s) skilled in planning, requesting, and managing airpower resources, and 1Z3X1 Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs). JTACs are specially trained and certified airmen who provide terminal control of airpower, usually in the form of Close Air Support missions.JP 1-02, DoD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, 8 November 2010 (As Amended Through 16 July 2013) The TACP also provides USAF Intelligence, Space, Electronic Warfare, Weather, and other liaisons to the Army. These liaisons serve as USAF subject-matter experts within their areas of expertise and assist in planning and integrating these functions with their aligned Army unit. All of these USAF liaison personnel are assigned to a USAF Air Support Operations Squadron. Operationally, liaisons serve within a TACP aligned with an Army Brigade Combat Team (BCT), Division, or Corps. 1Z3X1s and Air Liaison Officers serve in TACPs at Army echelons from battalion through corps.
Overview of the AFSC Until 2015, initial AFSC training for TACP Candidates took place at Hurlburt Field, Florida, an annex of Eglin Air Force Base and home to Air Force Special Operations Command. Training was subsequently moved to the Chapman Training Annex of Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where the initial selection and training for all Air Force Special Warfare career fields now takes place. Graduates of the TACP schoolhouse (AFSC 1Z3X1) attend USAF Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) School at Fairchild AFB, Washington, and Basic Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Joint Terminal Attack Controller Qualification Course at Nellis AFB, Nevada, after which they are assigned to a TACP unit to undergo initial mission readiness training and skill level upgrade.
Most TACP personnel are assigned to Air Support Operations Squadrons (ASOS), which are organized, trained and equipped to perform one of two functions, that of a Tactical Air Control Party or an Air Support Operations Center (ASOC). 1Z3X1s are experts on man-portable, vehicle-mounted, and field-expedient communications and are trained in weapons and fieldcraft, including navigation, individual and crew-served weapons systems, small unit tactics, demolitions, and Close Air Support tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
Air Support Operations Squadrons The USAF Air Support Operations Squadron (ASOS), which derives its name from the Close Air Support that TACPs specialize in, is usually located on an Army installation. An ASOS is commanded by an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who also serves as the senior Air Liaison Officer for an Army Division. The TACP mission is to support the host Army division and its subordinate brigade combat teams (BCTs), which are the basic deployable unit in the US Army. TACPs are located on nearly all major Army installations, and 1Z3X1s are primarily assigned to various ASOSs on Army installations throughout the U.S and overseas during their careers. As an unstated prerequisite to a career as a 1Z3X1, it is understood that 1Z3X1s live, train and deploy with U.S. Army combat units worldwide under some of the most demanding and difficult conditions in often very austere environments. Additionally, there are numerous ASOSs within the Air National Guard that have actively participated in combat operations worldwide supporting the Global War on Terror since 9/11.
When assigned to a TACP, the mission of the 1Z3X1 is to advise and assist Army ground commanders and fire support officers in planning, integrating, requesting, and employing airpower consistent with Joint Army, and Air Force doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures. Because of their unique position in the USAF, which places enlisted airmen in positions of authority and responsibility normally placed on commissioned officers, 1Z3X1s must be thoroughly proficient in their specialty and experts on airpower and joint operations, while also possessing the skills and training necessary to seamlessly fit in with the joint service unit to which they are assigned. During a TACP assignment, 1Z3X1s must continually possess a high degree of self-motivation, enthusiasm and a willingness to operate often as the lone airman in a joint team. Though challenging, a TACP assignment has its rewards: 1Z3X1s are uniquely afforded the opportunity to increase their knowledge, skills, and operator capabilities by attending Military Freefall, Air Assault, Pathfinder, Ranger, and Special Forces Combat Diver schools.
Air Support Operations Center The Air Support Operations Center (ASOC) is an element of the Theater Air Control System (TACS) aligned with the senior Army maneuver unit (Division or Corps/Corps equivalent) in theater and directly subordinate to the Air Operations Center, which is the senior TACS agency in a theater. Organizationally, ASOCs are also Air Support Operations Squadrons and named as such, but organized and equipped as an ASOC. ASOCs are commanded by an Air Force Lt Col. The ASOC manages allotted air resources and executes missions supporting its aligned Army units. 1Z3X1s assigned to an ASOC fill a vital role by receiving air support requests from forward deployed JTACs.MULTI-SERVICE TACTICS, TECHNIQUES, AND PROCEDURES FOR THE JOINT APPLICATION OF FIREPOWER, AFTTP (I) 3-2.6, November 2012 Once an air support request is received, the air support request is either approved or disapproved by the ground commander's land component chain of command. If approved, immediate requests to support urgent, troops-in-contact situations may result in strike aircraft being sent by the ASOC to the JTACs location for terminal control of immediate close air support. Approved, but non-urgent, air support requests submitted after the cut-off time for inclusion on the next Air Tasking Order will become scheduled missions on the subsequent Air Tasking Order. If an air support request is disapproved, the disapproved request should be sent back to the requesting unit with reasons for disapproval. Approval and disapproval authority of air support requests is the responsibility of the Army / Land Component being supported.JP 309.3, Close Air Support, 8 July 2009
Special Tactics TACP The US Special Operations Command was established in 1987 at MacDill AFB, Florida. One MSgt. 1Z3X1 (then AFSC 275X0) was assigned to the command as a liaison, but the position was disestablished in approximately 1991. In 1997, two MSgt. JTAC-qualified 1Z3X1s assigned to the 17th ASOS at Fort Benning, Georgia were selected for assignment to two of the Air Force Special Operations Command's Special Tactics Squadrons. TACP flights have been co-located with each Army Special Forces Group, each of the 75th Ranger Regiment's three battalions, and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). TACPs deployed with Operational Detachment Alpha teams from multiple Special Forces groups and with the 75th Ranger Regiment in both Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Additionally, in OIF, a small number of TACP personnel were assigned to the United States Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron (STS), the Air Force's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) special mission unit, and to a time-sensitive targeting (TST) cell dedicated to prosecuting high-value targets and targets of opportunity in support of JSOC's special mission units and their objectives.
In 2008, following its transfer from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations Command, the 17th ASOS (Ft. Benning, Georgia), which provided JTACs and ALOs to the 75th Ranger Regiment and its three line battalions, was redesignated the 17th Special Tactics Squadron. JTAC-qualified 1Z3X1s at the "5" or "Journeyman" skill level may apply for a Special Tactics assignment within Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). TACP personnel at the 17th STS (and, in smaller numbers, at the four remaining active-duty CONUS Special Tactics Squadrons), provide terminal attack control and fire support expertise for the 75th Ranger Regiment's three Ranger Battalions and Regimental Reconnaissance Company, all seven Army Special Forces Groups, and multiple Navy SEAL Teams. Some TACPs who have successfully undergone screening and selection are currently serving with the 24th STS.
TACP Officer The USAF TACP Officer or TACPO (formerly Air Liaison Officer) is assigned to an ASOS or ASOC as the USAF airpower advocate, subject-matter expert, and advisor to his or her aligned Army or Marine staff. Until 2009, this USAF officer was a rated officer. In 2005, then Captain Mark R. Wisher submitted an Innovative Development through Employee Awareness (IDEA) Report submission through the Air Force's IDEA program office based on his 2004 Master's Thesis which proposed the creation of a brand new non-rated ALO career field. The IDEA program submission was staffed at Headquarters AF (HAF/A3O) for consideration and ultimately resulted in a HAF-funded RAND Report that was completed in 2008. The RAND report relied heavily on the previous research of Wisher, John Olivero, and Raymond Knox. The RAND report ultimately concurred with Wisher's recommendation to create a non-rated ALO career field. The following year, the USAF created a new non-rated Air Liaison Officer AFSC, 13L, to form a career force of professional Air Liaison Officers and the AF began the first beta class of non-rated ALOs in the summer of 2009. Upon completion of initial qualification training, these non-rated officers are awarded the 13L AFSC. Sometime in 2019, the Air Force changed the name of the 13L AFSC from Air Liaison Officer to TACP Officer.TACP Officer Assessment and Selection, Application Process, airforce.com, dated FY2020, last accessed 7 March 2020