Marine Air Support Squadron 1 (MASS-1)

Mission Statement

The squadron is responsible for the planning, receiving, coordination, processing of requests for direct or close air support. It provides this through the Direct Air Support Center (DASC), whether ground or airborne based. The DASC is the principal Marine air command and control system agency, responsible for the direction of air operations directly supporting ground forces. It functions in a decentralized mode of operation, but is directly supervised by the marine or Navy Tactical Air Command Center. During amphibious or expeditionary operations, the DASC is normally the first air command & control agency ashore and usually lands in the same serial (i.e., scheduled wave or on-call wave) as the Ground Combat Element's senior Fire Support Coordination Center.