LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Col. Carol Northrup assumed command of the Air Force Targeting Center in a ceremony April 13 at the Bayside Enlisted Club.
Brig. Gen. Larry K. Grundhauser, Headquarters ACC director of intelligence, presided over the ceremony, in which Colonel Northrup succeeded Col. Phillip Pratzner in command of the unit.
Colonel Northrup said commanding the AFTC is her "dream job," and looks forward to continuing the unit's developing reputation of excellence in providing world-class intelligence products and support to the nation's warfighters.
"I know firsthand from my current job what a superb reputation the AFTC has and the difference they make in the joint fight," Colonel Northrup said of her new assignment. "My goal is to continue to grow that expertise and ensure that the AFTC remains the go-to organization throughout the Department of Defense for targeting and unit support, and I look forward to working with world-class Airmen on one of the most important missions in our Air Force."
Colonel Northrup is a 1989 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and has served across the Air Force in intelligence leadership positions. Her most recent assignment was at the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., where she served as the deputy director for Warfighter Support and Integration.
The AFTC's mission is to enable the integration of capabilities across air, space and cyberspace to deliver precise coercive effects in national defense and the global interests of the U.S. The unit produces geospatial intelligence, targeting, combat identification products and unit support to better prepare combat air forces for operations. ACC established the unit in April 1996 as the ACC Intelligence Squadron, later known as the Combat Targeting and Intelligence Group.