618th TACC International Clearances Branch puts 'Global' in Global Reach Published March 11, 2009 By Lt. Col. James Allen 618th TACC International Clearances and Flight Plans Division SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- What can bring an air mobility mission to a screeching halt? Bad weather ... maybe. A maintenance problem with the aircraft ... maybe. And, there's not much you can do about weather or mechanical problems; you deal with them as they happen. But, what about permission from other governments to either overfly or land in their country? Do we need permission for those? The answer is "absolutely," and if you don't have it, the air mobility mission comes to a screeching halt. Every U.S. Air Force air mobility mission obtains permission from other countries through the diplomatic clearance process. Here's how it works. Each country has an embassy with a U.S. Department of State country team responsible for coordinating with respective host nations for permission to have U.S. military aircraft to overfly or land in their particular country. For air mobility missions, the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center's Diplomatic Clearance Branch is the organization responsible for processing these clearance requests with the embassy of each country a mission will fly over or land in. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not really. Every government has its own rules on how far in advance permission must be requested to overfly or land in their country (called clearance lead time) and how long that permission lasts (called clearance validity). Now consider the volume of clearances the 618th TACC must process in a given period of time. In calendar year 2008 alone, the 618th TACC produced more than 226,000 diplomatic clearances, an all-time record volume. To say that's a lot of clearances with mountains of associated coordination would be an understatement. The 618th TACC Diplomatic Clearance Branch is made up of a dedicated group of about 25 civil servants and total force active duty, guard and Reserve members. These professionals ensure the thousands of 618th TACC mobility missions annually have that all important permission from other countries and they do it 24 hours day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Typically, the diplomatic clearance process starts weeks in advance of the mission to meet the clearance lead times, and once that initial planning is complete, the branch follows each mission through execution to completion, ensuring all itinerary changes are coordinated with the required countries. No other organization touches virtually every mobility mission, be it a channel, contingency, special assignment airlift, air refueling, or any other mission type. They are the cradle-to-grave caretakers of the Air Force's Rapid Global Mobility core competency, whose incredible work is proven by their 2008 success rate of an astonishing 99.98 percent. As the division chief leading this great organization, I couldn't be more proud of the accomplishments of this truly amazing group of people we call "dipsters." They are consummately dedicated to the air mobility mission, they are the epitome of true professionals, and they deserve our thanks for providing an invaluable service in support of our national security objectives. The "dipsters" truly are a center of gravity for air mobility operations. Without the required permission to fly over or land in a country, "Rapid Global Mobility" would not be rapid or global. The 618th TACC Diplomatic Clearance Branch makes Global Reach a reality.