It is part of NATO's air defence and rocket defence system, monitors military aviation training activities, and is to organize combat activities for aircraft units during "W". And this is only part of the tasks of the Air Operations Centre – Air Component Command, which is 1 of this year's Buzdygan winners, the “Polish Armed Forces” award.
– It will not be easy to tell readers about the service at the Air Operations Centre – the commander of this institution, General Dyw. Pil. Ireneusz Starzyński, warns. He explains: "All due to the fact that the rooms where we work, as well as our procedures and rules of operation have NATO confidentiality clauses. They're just classified.
So we look at how COP – DKP works, only by the door commander who has been repealed. The most crucial task created in 2013 Air Operations Centre – Air Component Command (the institution existed earlier, but had a different name and little competence) is command, task and management of active combat measures, and planning and organising combat activities for aircraft, anti-aircraft and radio-technical units. That's wartime. In peace, however, the nature of our actions is different, says the general. COP – DKP monitors tactical training activities of aviation under General Command of Types of Armed Forces. It is besides part of the global air rescue system, so it can carry out search and rescue operations in the FIR (Flight Information Region, or Air Information Area) Warsaw, launch and supervise MEDEVAC flights and monitor aircraft active in the Heart Action. COP – DKP is besides included in NATO's air and rocket defence system, and its tasks include directing Air Police missions in the airspace of Poland and the creation and distribution of RAP (Recognized Air Picture).
The heart of COP activity – DCP is simply a combat room, but only people with appropriate certificates and permits can enter there. However, it is known that it resembles the command centers we know from sensational films filled with monitors. Maps are displayed on the monitors, and on them many points, arrows, which depict the motion of objects moving in airspace. All of this is closely observed by dozens of on-call soldiers. “There, for example, the launch of F-16 or helicopters starts,” explains Gen. Starzyński. erstwhile radar systems detect any irregularities, for example, an unidentified object will be flown into Poland's airspace, with which the crew has no communication, or whose crew violates the rules of radio correspondence, COP – DKP picks up a pair of F-16 or MiG-29 fighters on duty. We're receiving an Alpha Scramble alarm, a combat signal to get into the air. From the minute of the signal we have only a twelve minutes until we are in the airspace”, says Colonel Łukasz Gradziński, commander of the Aviation Action Group 31 Tactical Air Basewho has been on fighter work respective times. – Information about what happens in the air, we get from COP – DKP already erstwhile the alarm is announced, but erstwhile we get on planes, contact does not stop. We are led by officers who, on the monitors of their computers, see perfectly what is happening in airspace. What they are talking about, we see with our own eyes a minute later – explains the pilot.
The aircraft crews execute tasks in the COP-designated location and check what is happening. For example, the deficiency of communication with the passenger ship's crew was caused by the crew turning on the autopilot and falling asleep. But there are situations far more dangerous. If there is an airplane or another object in the Polish airspace that was not included in the flight plan, pilots of sent fighters must check it, force it to land or leave the borders of Poland. In the darkest scenario, e.g. in the event of a terrorist attack or an effort to enter a position to attack objects in the territory of Poland, fighters can shoot down specified a machine.
The function of the Air Operations Center became highly crucial after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. – A fewer days later, the 3rd Warsaw Rocket defence Brigade received orders to shield respective crucial facilities in our country – says Brig-Gen Sławomir Kojło, Brig-Gen. The task is inactive carried out today. – I do not want to give a circumstantial amount of strength and resources or location, but I can say that we are ready to guarantee the safety of the airspace of our capital, and not only her," explains Brig-Gen. A friend.
Battle Squadrons brigade soldiers execute 24 hours a day 7 days a week. S 125 Newa SC sets are utilized and PSR-A Pilica (anti-aircraft missile-artillery strategy very short range). – erstwhile it comes to cooperation with COP, we act like F-16 pilots who execute their combat duty. In the event of an air strike threat, the Air Operations Center raises the combat readiness of our on-call sub-chapters, which are ready to act in little than a fewer minutes after receiving the signal, explains the gene. A friend.
The outbreak of the war in Ukraine put fresh challenges before the Air Operations Centre – the Air Component Command. Today, much more than before 2022, we request highly trained soldiers in COP. – The capabilities were raised and are, through trainings with real usage of aviation and simulated, allowing to check the procedures for countering air strikes in Poland – provided Gen. Dyw. Pil. Ireneusz Starzyński. Regular training translates into real activities that are crucial for the safety of Poland and NATO. “Our planning, commanding national and allied forces, which were separated by the US, large Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Australia, was a very crucial component of the protection and protection of critical infrastructure in Poland,” stresses COP commander. These actions are inactive ongoing, but no more information can be given. Revoked for a minute by the commander the doors close – for the safety of all of us.
