JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Pacific Air Forces took another step in its multi-phase series to upgrade the headquarters building when senior leaders hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Pacific Air Forces Watch Center at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Jan. 19.
The upgraded facility ensures PAFWC Airmen, who conduct 24/7 operations, have all the tools needed to continuously monitor air and cyberspace security throughout the Indo-Pacific.
“Integration is key for any operation we take on in Pacific Air Forces,” said Gen. Ken Wilsbach, PACAF commander. “Having an upgraded facility that allows us to work across the command, across the air domain, and along with our Allies and partners, with advanced technologies and collaboration tools, will help accelerate positive change for the Indo-Pacific region overall.”
The renovation is part of a $221M project – a nine-phase Headquarters Pacific Air Forces facility repair program that began in 2009.
“The investment in the new PAFWC with collaboration spaces and cutting-edge communications systems puts the Air Component into an innovative, forward-facing stance to respond rapidly to any crisis,” said Col. Jeff Jarry, PACAF deputy chief of staff. “The PAFWC quickly transitions to the Battle Staff that enables operations and the execution of our strategic objectives.”
The PAFWC provides the PACAF commander with time-sensitive planning information, and enables the deployment, employment, and sustainment of assigned and allocated forces in response to threats within the full-spectrum of operations, Jarry added.
The PAFWC’s enhanced capabilities allow senior leaders to have an eagle-eye view of the Indo-Pacific as Airmen execute PACAF’s lines of effort to remain diverse, ready, innovative, and lethal.
The PAFWC was last remodeled more than 30 years ago, during the Operation Desert Storm era.
“The operational space was last renovated in the 1990s,” recounted Emi Kiyoi, chief of PACAF campus facilities. “There was a lot of modernization and sustainment that needed to be done, and it needed to fit the current mission when it comes to infrastructure, security, and communications systems. Predecessor projects needed to be done to prepare the space.”
Along with meeting the needs of the current PACAF mission, Kiyoi’s team built in options that will allow senior leaders to easily configure upgrades for the requirements of next-generation warfighters.
“It is an impressive facility designed perfectly for what we need,” Jarry exclaimed. “It has tremendous flexibility with numerous breakout rooms, a premier conference room with top line communications systems, and a central location for collaboration.”