A recent change at Shaw Air Force Base will bring 349 new personnel to Sumter and will also result in about 700 fewer deployments annually.
The Secretary of Defense approved Shaw Air Force Base to be designated as the primary Air Forces Central Combined Air Operations Center, or CAOC.
According to the U.S. Air Forces Central website, the current CAOC is at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and it will still have a significant presence there, but much of the weight will be moved to Sumter's base.
The CAOC's purpose is to plan, monitor and direct "sortie execution, close air support and precision air strike; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; airlift; air refueling; aeromedical evacuation; air drop, and countless other mission-critical operations," according to the U.S. Air Forces Central website.
The Sumter Item has requested information on when the nearly 350 personnel will be moving to Sumter.
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