{"id":26551,"date":"2016-09-13T17:23:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T17:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/09\/13\/inside-the-anti-islamic-state-air-campaign-command-center\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:34:32","slug":"inside-the-anti-islamic-state-air-campaign-command-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2016\/09\/13\/inside-the-anti-islamic-state-air-campaign-command-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the anti-Islamic State air campaign command center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar \u2014 Air Force Maj. Gen. Jay Silveria examined the photos arrayed on a table in a conference room. The grainy pictures showed\u00a0a small oil well and collection pool operated by\u00a0the Islamic State in the Syrian desert.The targeting officer gave Silveria\u00a0a brief pitch: This was an opportunity to hit a key source of Islamic State revenue. No civilians were around, and a pair of U.S. A-10 attack planes could get there quickly. The general\u00a0turned to a military lawyer to see if he had any legal concerns. He didn\u2019t.Silveria gave his OK,\u00a0and the planes destroyed the oil well.The strike\u00a0is one example\u00a0of how the U.S. operation against the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria has\u00a0become the most tightly managed air campaign\u00a0in the history of warfare. USA Today was granted rare access to the command center here to witness how the team carries out that\u00a0campaign.Every strike has to be approved by an officer with the rank of a one-star general or\u00a0higher. The targets are scrutinized not only for their potential for collateral damage, but also “proportionality” \u00a0\u2014\u00a0whether the military value of the target is worth the time and cost of a\u00a0strike and furthers the aim of the overall campaign.Staff officers have developed complex formulas for estimating the potential for civilian casualties on any given target and what type of bomb to use to achieve a specific goal.\u00a0Planned, or “deliberate” targets,\u00a0which can include a cash warehouse, car bomb factories or militant communications facilities, take\u00a0an average of four to six weeks for approval. However, “dynamic” targets of opportunity, like the\u00a0oil well, account for 85 percent of the strikes and can be approved in\u00a0minutes if\u00a0a high-level officer signs off.\"air

Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Douglas Ellis\/Air Force<\/span><\/figcaption>The highly controlled air campaign reflects a heightened sensitivity to civilian casualties in an era where social media draw the world’s attention to even a single errant bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of confirmed civilian deaths in nearly 15,000 coalition strikes since the air war began in 2014 is 55, according to<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Central Command<\/culink>\n\n\n\n

. An additional seven allegations are under investigation, and actual\u00a0casualties are likely higher, since the military’s estimates includes\u00a0only\u00a0those it has confirmed through a rigorous process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Most times we\u2019re trying to drive it to zero civilian casualties,” said\u00a0Lt. Gen. Jeffrey\u00a0Harrigian, commander of the air campaign in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics say the regulations to avoid\u00a0non-combatant deaths\u00a0are excessive and have undermined the effectiveness of the air campaign.\u00a0Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman<\/p>\n\n\n\n John McCain<\/culink>\n\n\n\n

, R-Ariz.,\u00a0complained last year\u00a0that three-quarters of the coalition\u2019s aircraft came back to base without having dropped their weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s a very convoluted system for fighting a war,” said<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chuck Horner<\/culink>\n\n\n\n

, a retired Air Force general who commanded air operations during the 1990-91<\/p>\n\n\n\n Persian Gulf War<\/culink>\n\n\n\n

. “We\u2019re fighting with one arm tied behind our back.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military counters\u00a0that today’s munitions are far\u00a0more precise than the bombs dropped over Iraq during the Gulf War’s “shock and awe” campaign. Intelligence also has steadily improved, allowing pilots\u00a0to kill top Islamic State\u00a0leaders and destroy targets such as the oil well, which reduce\u00a0the terror group\u2019s income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the command center<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The air war in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan\u00a0and other parts of the Middle East is run from this sprawling desert base outside Doha, the capital of Qatar. Inside a massive windowless concrete building, protected\u00a0from the stifling desert heat, military men and women monitor banks of computer screens in a large, two-story room. On the walls above their heads are rows of screens, displaying surveillance video from throughout the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a long way from previous wars, when bomber pilots would take off with targets marked on a map and drop “dumb” bombs with little or no communication with their home base. The bombs\u00a0would often\u00a0flatten entire city blocks\u00a0or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, technology allows\u00a0commanders to control events thousands of miles away.\u00a0The process for choosing ground targets begins with a nomination that could come from an intelligence analyst, ground forces or a pilot who sees a potential target, such as an enemy position, an oil well or a warehouse where the Islamic State stores cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If selected for further review, analysts will gather surveillance video and other intelligence that will establish a “pattern of life” around the target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n