Direct Air Support Center The Direct Air Support Center ( DASC ) is the principal United States Marine Corps aviation command and control system and the air control 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 Tactical Air Command Center ( TACC ) or the Navy Tactical Air Control Center ( NTACC ) . During amphibious or expeditionary operations , the DASC is normally the first MACCS agency ashore and is usually categorized ( i . e . , scheduled or on call wave ) as the Ground Combat Element ' s ( GCE ' s ) senior Fire Support Coordination Center ( FSCC ) . The DASC ' s parent unit is the Marine Air Support Squadron ( MASS ) of the Marine Air Control Group ( MACG ) . Role . The DASC processes immediate air support requests ; coordinates aircraft employment with other supporting arms ; manages terminal control assets supporting GCE and combat service support element forces ; and controls assigned aircraft , unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs ) , and itinerant aircraft transiting through DASC controlled airspace . The DASC controls and directs air support activities that effect the GCE commander ' s focus on close operations and those air missions requiring integration with the ground combat forces ( close air support [ CAS ] , assault support and designated air reconnaissance ) . The DASC does not normally control aircraft conducting deep air support ( DAS ) missions as detailed coordination of DAS missions is not required with ground forces . However , the DASC will provide battle damage assessments ( BDAs ) and mission reports ( MISREPs ) from DAS missions to the GCE ' s senior fire support coordination center ( FSCC ) and TACC when required . History . World War II . The early forerunners of today ' s Tactical Air Control Party units were the Air Liaison Parties that accompanied the front - line divisions and served to request close air support and direct ( but not control — the front was too narrow ) aircraft to the target . Coordination of lower - echelon air requests became the province of four Landing Force Air Support Control Units ( LFASCUs ) . Korean War . Marine Tactical Air Control Squadron 2 ( MTACS - 2 ) , the precursor to today ' s MASS - 2 , operated an Air Support section and conducted operations during the Korean War at the Pusan Perimeter , Battle of Inchon , Battle of Seoul , Battle of Chosin Reservoir , the East Central Front , and the Western Front . What became to be known as the Marine Air Support Radar Team , ( TPQ 10 - Devastate Charlie ) , all began at the Naval Air Missile Test Center , Point Mugu , CA in 1949 . A small group of Marines , four officers ( Captains Dalby , Johnston , Dressin and First Lt . Harris ) and eight enlisted technicians ( MSgts Hayden , Holtz , Dickover ; TSgt Seissiger ; SSgt Leber , Waggener , Darrow ; and Cpl Gramza ) formed an ad hoc Marine organization , called the Marine Guided Missile Section . With the assistrance of the German scientist Dr . Wagner the group conceived , built and tested a computer that would take the information from a tracking radar and provide the course for a LOON missile ( the old German V - 1 ) to fly to a designated target . At the computed time the wings were blown off the missile and it would fall toward the target . As missiles were in short supply during the testing period , a drone aircraft was flown as the missile and water filled bombs were dropped on the target . The tests revealed that an all weather bombing system had been developed that could provide close air support . The original radar in the system was an SCR 784 borrowed from the Army at Ft . Bliss TX . The computer was in a van and not packaged for combat . When it was decided to send the system to Korea the computer was repacked in a 1 / 4 Ton trailer and the SCR 784 was replaced with the radar TPQ 10 . After tests in the area near El Centro and at Camp Pendleton , the original group was augmented with other Marines and the 1st MARST was born , assigned to the 1st WAW , MTACS - 2 ( who was radio call sign DEVASTATE ) . The 1st MASRT was Devstate Charlie . The team joined the 1st Marine Division in reserve in June 1951 . What was to be a relative short combat evaluation became extended when the effectiveness of the system dictated that the system remain as a regular unit in the Air Wing . Of the original group of Marines at NAMTC , Point Mugu only two survived ; LtColonel Robert G . Harris and LtColonel John Seissiger . Both have since retired , and leader , Colonel M . C . Dalby died in 2008 . Vietnam . In April 1965 , MASS - 2 and MASS - 3 deployed to the Republic of Vietnam as part of the III Marine Amphibious Force and provided two Direct Air Support Centers and five Air Support Radar Team s ( ASRTs ) in support of ground combat units . From 1966 - 1971 , MASS - 3 ASRTs controlled more than 38 , 010 AN / TPQ - 10 missions , directing more than 121 , 000 tons of ordnance on 56 , 753 targets . ( a 10 : 1 ratio ) The ASRTs utilized the AN / TPQ - 10 with great success , especially during the Battle of Khe Sanh , where poor weather made conventional Close air support methods unreliable . The AN / TPQ - 10 had a Circular error probable and could handle up to 105 missions a day . The commander of the Khe Sanh defense , Col . David M . Lownds , said " Anything but the highest praise would not have been enough . " By the end of the war , the DASCs and ASRTs participated in virtually every major Marine combat operation . The 1980s and the Gulf War . In the early 1980s , the AN / TPQ - 10 was replaced by the more sophisticated AN / TPB - 1D , which , after extensive service in Operation Desert Storm , was removed from service due to the growing technological sophistication of onboard navigation and weapons delivery systems in modern fixed and rotary wing aircraft . During Operation Desert Storm the DASC was operational for 984 hours . They controlled 4948 fixed wing missions and 839 rotary wing missions . During this time they received 375 immediate joint tactical air requests ( JTARs ) , 114 immediate assault support requests ( ASRs ) and 153 immediate medevacs . Operation Iraqi Freedom . For the 2003 invasion of Iraq , the DASC for the I Marine Expeditionary Force was provided by MASS - 3 with augmentation from MASS - 1 and MASS - 6 . It was broken up into a main echelon ( DASC Main ) and a forward echelon ( DASC Fwd ) . The main was attached to the Main Headquarters of the 1st Marine Division while the forward was attached to the Division " Jump Command Post ( CP ) . " The DASC ( Fwd ) was also a part of Task Force in Al Anbar Province . MASS - 1 again switched out with MASS - 3 in early 2007 and currently provide air support for the 2nd Marine Division .