WINNIPEG – Lieutenant-General Marcel Duval, Commander 1 Canadian Air Division / Canadian NORAD Region, officially opened the new Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) in a small ceremony this morning at 1 Canadian Air Division / Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters in Winnipeg. LGen. Angus Watt, Chief of the Air Staff, presided over the ceremony.
“The Combined Air Operations Centre has been an undertaking with special significance for me,” said LGen. Duval. “It is now a fully functioning, state-of-the-art facility that will better integrate Canada’s air operations with those of our international partners and allies.”
“The greatest benefit of this transformation comes with the technology and personnel incorporated in this new operations facility,” said Colonel Michel Latouche, CAOC Director. “It will enable the commander to monitor, communicate with and direct all aerospace forces under his command and enable the delivery of air capabilities in an efficient and effective manner.”
The CAOC will provide operational-level command and control of air and space for Commander 1 Canadian Air Division / Canadian NORAD Region, who is also the Canadian Combined Forces Air Component Commander (CFACC). It is the focal point for planning, directing and assessing air and space operations. It is uniquely structured to meet Canadian Forces’ requirements to deliver effects to various commanders in support of strategic, operational and tactical objectives across a full spectrum of operations including domestic and international disaster response, search and rescue, evacuation operations, air mobility operations and NORAD operations.
Captain Holly Brown
Public Affairs Officer, 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region
Tel: (204) 833-2500 ext. 6795
Cell: (204) 227-8535
E-mail: holly.brown@forces.gc.ca
