The 728th Battle Management Control Squadron holds an activation and assumption of command ceremony at the Museum of Aviation, Feb. 13, 2023, at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. The 728th BMCS is comprised of airmen who were formerly with the 461st and 116th Air Control Wings and worked on the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft undergoing divestment. (Tommie Horton/U.S. Air Force)
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (Tribune News Service) — Robins Air Force Base officials are celebrating the launch of the base's newest mission, the first Battle Management Control Squadron in Air Force history.
The 728th Battle Management Control Squadron (BMCS) was activated on Feb. 13 and is the first of four new missions coming to Robins Air Force Base since it began retiring the E-8 JSTARS mission last year. The BMCS currently has more than 50 members and will grow to more than 315 members by 2025, when the unit is set to be fully operational.
The BMCS will provide command and control of aircraft and 24/7 surveillance of airspace across the world remotely and its first mission is focused on controlling the airspace in the Middle East, said Lt. Col. Joshua Gulbranson, the commander of the newly activated squadron.
"What we do is in some respects a parallel to what we have been doing on the E-8 JSTARS, which has been at Robins for the last few decades," Gulbranson said. "The difference being that they were doing their mission airborne, while we are doing it from a fixed location on the ground here, but still being able to do that mission anywhere on the planet."
Also in contrast to the JSTARS mission, which was led by the Georgia Air National Guard with active duty support, the BMCS will be led by active duty airmen with support from the Georgia Air National Guard.
Gulbranson said many of the mission's members will have previously been part of the JSTARS mission.
Before it was reactivated this month as the Air Force's first Battle Management Control Squadron, the 728th was originally activated in 1950 and served various roles in different locations across the U.S. until it deactivated in 2013.
"[The 728th] most recently ended its mission as an Air Control Squadron, which was essentially a mobile command and control facility," Gulbranson said. "They were the first command and control entity in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom back in 2003. … Then they closed shop about 10 years ago and folded the flag and it's been closed since until they were able to bring it back now.
"Being the first squadron of its kind, there are definitely some tie-ins to the past and some things that we're going to carry and bring forward, but it's not a mere replica of what it used to be."
Adapting to a changing world
Gulbranson said controlling airspace across the world from a fixed location will provide greater resilience for command and control operations for the Air Force and the Department of Defense overall.
"The world is becoming more and more challenging and our adversaries are becoming more assertive and aggressive," he said. " The United States has to adapt to deal with those challenges as they come and we as a nation, as a force, are looking to accelerate change and make sure that we meet those operational requirements to overcome the challenges when we're faced with them."
The three other new missions on their way to Robins Air Force Base are a Spectrum Warfare Group, E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) squadron and an Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) Family of Systems (FoS).
The BMCS will eventually be housed in a new facility, the Battle Management Combined Operations Center, alongside two of the other new missions once it is constructed.
Robins Air Force Base's JSTARS mission is expected to be fully divested by 2024.
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