SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- The Air Force Command, Control, Communications and Computer Agency was redesignated as the Air Force Communications Agency during a ceremony June 18 in front of the Lt. Gen. Harold W. Grant building here.
The renaming is part of the Air Force plan to integrate the Information Management functional area with the Command, Control, Communications, and Computers functional area.
"Although our name has changed, our mission stays the same," said Col. Patrick M. Ryan, commander of AFCA. "We will continue to ensure the C4 and information systems used by warfighters are integrated and interoperable.
"The name change is intended to simplify our connection to the Air Force mission," said Ryan. "We work programs supporting the entire command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance range, but there comes a time to reduce the fog rather than enhance it, and now is a good time to do so for us. We will still do all of what we have been doing, but it will be under the simple word 'communications.'"
AFCA retains its current structure of four directorates and an operating location.
The directorates are Interoperability and Technology, Systems and Procedures, Plans and Analysis, and Resources. The operating location is the C4 Technology Validation Office at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
AFCA, a field operating agency, continues to report directly to the Air Force deputy chief of staff for Communications and Information.
The Agency provides HQ USAF/SC the expertise needed to effect integration and interoperability among command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems across the Air Force.
The Agency's role includes: planning and engineering technical support to HQ USAF/SC; engineering technical support to the major commands; and functional support to other Air Force offices and DOD agencies.