SMAC Talk

A new planning cell at Air Force Global Strike Command’s 8th Air Force is in charge of coordinating standoff weapon assets across the Department of Defense, from JASSMs to Navy Tomahawks, in order to get better results in the opening stages of an air campaign. The Standoff Munitions Application Center (SMAC) is now up and running at the 608th Air and Space Operations Center at Barksdale AFB, La., 8th Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Scott Vander Hamm told Air Force Magazine Friday. The effort pulls together the operational planning elements for standoff weapons from the Air Force, Navy, and other services, in order to help better coordinate bomber-launched cruise missiles, to air-launched jammers and Tomahawks. As US Strategic Command’s air component and functional commander for global strike, Vander Hamm can now coordinate and support standoff weapons operations. A given command may have a handful of personnel who can plan and coordinate standoff assets, but now the SMAC can consolidate this expertise and provide teams to deploy and directly support operations should the need arise. “These assets are very expensive, and this is to help pull them together from an operational planning perspective,” Vander Hamm said. Using tools available via his STRATCOM authorities, Vander Hamm can utilize electronic warfare, cyber, and space assets to “better optimize these weapons.”