Air Tasking Order Explained

The Air Tasking Order is how combat aircraft in the US (and NATO) get their orders. It's how a commander of a large region keeps everyone working towards a common goal. In this episode of the Air Supremacy series we demystify the ATO and explain how it works.
Air Supremacy Playlist: • Air Supremacy
Obligatory disclaimers:
The presence of DOD Visual Information in this video does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or any of its departments. Any views expressed by the presenter are those of the presenter and do not represent the views of the DOD or any of its components.

[@zerojoom]

As a mission editor for DCS this is stunning. It’s super interesting to see how things worked out IRL. Looking forward to the next one!

[@kasmiller9289]

This is really useful. I have spent way to much time trying to understand how ATO’s are formatted and what info they contain. I haven’t found more a concise description anywhere. THANKYOU

[@snipercan]

Ato is also sent to GCI (CRC) and Airdefence units and E3.

[@NiklasAndersson7]

It was really interesting to see this kind of information. Highly appreciated content. It gives so much context and background to the flying. Thanks a lot Mike!

[@TaeruAlethea]

If anyone is looking for how to construct the slash delineated messages at about 5:25, it's APP-11 & ADatP-3 from what I can tell.

[@madaxe606]

Hugely useful for mission making. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the next episodes!

[@jonl.1603]

As always Mike, your wealth of knowledge and ability to explain it to smooth-brains like me are incredible! Appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. Shared with my buddies.

[@simonliin]

Super interesting view into the ATO work. Thx a lot.

[@RichardBejtlich]

This was fascinating. Thanks for the explanation.

[@HercNav]

Having flashbacks of TEAM SPIRIT and ULCHI FOCUS LENS when I worked in the KALCC. Broke down a few ATOs ... where's my yellow highlighter? ;-)

[@BenderIsGreat_34]

I was there for ULCHI FREEDOM GUARDIAN(successor to UFL), we started using the term ITO(integrated tasking order) for a while before reverting back to ATO.

[@ChooChoo2005]

your videos are very informative! THX for that

[@S3NTRY]

Great stuff. Thanks again.

[@fl398motorsports3]

Great job in breaking everything down... should be required watching for Virtual Squadrons.

[@jw8042]

Fantastic video, I design missions in DCS for the guys I fly with and this will help make the missions more interesting and realistic

[@Saguanay]

Thanks Mike. Filled in a couple of holes.

[@Isimus]

Great video. Very informative.

[@palleh.jensen4648]

Thanks Mike.

[@gort8203]

One thing I would find interesting is how changes to taskings are coordinated when the ATO plan is overcome by events. I'm guessing this must sometimes happen later in the 24 hour period covered by the ATO, and units may have to be re-tasked due to changes occurring due to that day's action. Having once been victim of a non-combat SNAFU because an ATO had not been updated, I can imagine how there could be more drastic consequences to combat operations. As the future arrives do you see AI becoming more deeply embedded in planning and managing operations? The advantage of AI is of course speed, and if it did more of the work in developing an ATO, do you think it might ever go to a 12 hour cycle?

[@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom]

Reposting this since it seems YT ate the last one... There's a section that works for the JFACC called Combat Operations that takes care of changes on the day of an ATO. So they would reach out to units to make any updates. There was also a process that came out around the time I was at AFWI called "Time Sensitive Targeting" (TST) that gave planners a way to handle "popup" targets. One of the first times it was used was in OIF when the voice of Saddam Hussein was tracked to a phone call in a restaurant. Within 45 minutes a B-1 was retasked from its ATO tasking to hit this restaurant. Now it didn't get him but it showed that TST can work. My coworkers at AFWI were also really excited to see doctrine in action. As far as AI goes, I can see it offering a way to streamline the planning process. But just like in combat drones USAF leadership has shown a reluctance to take the man completely out of the loop. So I would imagine they would do the same with AI planning of ATOs. But this is just my opinion.

[@gort8203]

@@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom Thanks for the info.

[@gabrielwong1991]

If you play BMS you should be very familiar

[@homeless554]

hi, can you post your references? thanks!

[@yappydawg8985]

So... are you suggesting real pilots can't idle their jets on the runway threshold, call out to the ground crew, and request whatever weapons they want to have loaded on their plane before flying 'in that direction" to go looking for stuff to shoot at? There is a lot of information here to unpack and this will really up our squadron game if we can figure out how to incorporate it into our operations. Are there "sample" ATO's to look at and documents that explain what all the encryptions mean without needing a security clearance or risking imprisonment?

[@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom]

I've heard the Navy likes to do their mission briefings on the ramp over GUARD. But over in the Air Force that's expected to be completed before stepping to the jet. 🤔🤔 I don't think its too important to know the format I showed in this video. It's mostly there for the historical perspective and to drive home a very important point I touched on in the last video: A pilot will get the bare minimum of details for a mission and will be expected to fill in the blanks. This is just to give viewers an idea of what those minimums might look like (ie callsign, SCL, target, controller, etc). It's also to bridge the gap in this series from high level down to actually going out on a counterair mission.

[@gort8203]

@@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom 😄😄😄