Forward air control
[5] The Marines in the so-called Banana wars of the 1920s and 1930s used Curtiss Falcons and Vought Corsairs that were equipped with radios powered by airstream-driven generators, with a range of up to 50 miles.
Using these various methods, the Marine pilots combined the functions of both FAC and strike aircraft, as they carried out their own air attacks on the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1927.
[8] French colonial operations in the Rif War from 1920–1926 used air power similarly to the Marines in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas but in a different environment, the desert.
The French Mobile Groups of combined arms not only used aircraft for scouting and air attack; the airplanes carried trained artillery officers as observers.
Extensive coordinated training by air and ground troops had raised this system to state of the art by the beginning of World War II.
[11] However, these units were often plagued by turf wars and cumbersome communications between the respective armies and air forces involved.
Close air support would be requested by forward units and if approved delivered from "cab ranks" of fighter-bombers held near the front lines.
[citation needed] The United States would end World War II still without an air control doctrine.
By 20 July, jury-rigged systems were not only controlling air strikes against the communist foe, but also occasionally directing aerial interceptions of opposing aircraft.
[22] Both the U.S. high command and North Korean General Nam Il agreed that only tactical air power saved United Nation forces from defeat during the mobile warfare stage of the war.
[23][24] When the front lines bogged down into static trench warfare in Summer 1951, forward air control diminished in importance.
[30][31][32] Forward air controllers played a major part in the largest bombing campaign in history during the Vietnam War.
Also unlike World War II, serious efforts were made to avoid hitting the civilian populace, which also called for FAC intervention.
[54] C-123 Provider cargo aircraft were used as flareships to light up the Trail and direct air strikes, under the call sign "Candlestick", until late 1969.
[55] In a similar role, Lockheed AC-130 gunships, call sign "Blindbat", not only lit the Trail and directed air strikes, but used its own copious firepower on enemy trucks.
[56] The gunships carried both electronic sensors tied into Operation Igloo White and night observation devices for spotting enemy trucks, as well as a computerized fire control system.
As the U.S. more than quadrupled the number of airstrikes aimed at interdiction, North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns and gunners transferred south to the Trail to match this new onslaught.
[58] At about this time, the Raven FACs began supporting Vang Pao's Central Intelligence Agency-supported guerrilla army on the Plain of Jars in northern Laos with air strikes serving as aerial artillery blasting the way clear for offensive sweeps by the partisans.
[14][65][66] Major Atma Singh, of the Indian Army, flying a HAL Krishak, played a crucial part in a close air support defense against steep odds.
[77] Since 2003 the United States Armed Forces have used the term joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) for some of their ground based FACs.
FACs in the United Kingdom are trained at the Joint Forward Air Controller Training and Standards Unit (JFACTSU)[78] where controllers are drawn from all three services: Naval Service (Royal Marines and Royal Marines Reserve),[82] the Army, and the RAF (RAF Regiment[83]).
The Afghan National Army (ANA) relied on coalition partners to raise and sustain its FAC and Joint Fires Officer (JFO) capability.
The Australian Army operatives developed this capability within the ANA in late 2015 to 2016 to include NVG, ISR, Afghan Air Force/Army/Police and other units, which culminated in the enduring Joint exercise Tolo Aftab which was first held in January 2016 (https://www.armynewspaper.defence.gov.au/army-news/may-5th-2016/flipbook/6/).
