Air Combat Command directs all installations to use Kessel Run base monitoring software

Air Combat Command has directed all of its installations to use software from Kessel Run to monitor its base resources, a move that will expand the number of users of the software and give commanders more data on its bases.

The goal is to have the software, Command and Control Incident Management Emergency Response Application (C2IMERA), at 60 installations by the end of the year, according to the Air Force‘s software acquisition and development unit, Kessel Run. The system is designed to give base commanders real time visibility into a host of data points on “installation resources,” from food and water levels to what planes are ready to fly.

By directing its use across all ACC installations it also gives commanders deeper insights across bases, Harsheet Shah, program manager for Wing C2 at Kessel Run, told FedScoop in an interview.

“Our bases are air power projection platforms that require real-time installation and resource awareness, as well as command and control capability. C2IMERA gives commanders the operational sight picture to execute the mission,” Gen. Mark Kelly, commander of ACC, said in a release.

The new directive moves the command away from a hodgepodge mix of tools used to create a picture of base operations towards a single, Air Force-owned system. With one system, data across bases is interoperable and can be collected by theater commanders to understand how ready ACC installations are. Other Air Force major commands have also request C2IMERA, according to Kessel Run.

“The fact that [ACC] is making it flow through a single system is massive,” Shah said.

The system was also recently used in Operation Allies Refuge, the massive airlift to evacuate U.S. citizens, Afghans and others from Kabul, Afghanistan. The 609th Air Force in Central Command made a request to Kessel Run for a system to give operators more visibility into their resources at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and within four days Kessel Run delivered C2IMERA, Shah said.

The software was coded by Leidos, the prime contractors for C2IMERA. Shah said the model of contracting the actual coding while the military retains project management oversight is a model that worked well for Kessel Run and should be replicated.

“C2IMERA is one of the best examples of partnership with a prime contractor,” Shah said. “This model should be adopted by c2 system in the Air Force.”

Edit: This story was updated to correct the spelling of C2IMERA.