Definition
A military ground radio station that provides air-to-ground communications between military aircraft and their command authority, typically used for flight following, position reporting, and operational coordination on military training routes and within special use airspace.
Plain English
A military radio station on the ground that lets military aircraft talk to their command while flying.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA abbreviation lists, airport communications information, and NOTAMs—formal notices about aviation conditions—when a communications outlet is identified or reported unavailable.
Derivation
From 'command' (the military authority directing the flight) plus 'communications outlet' (a fixed point that provides a radio link). The name describes its job: a radio outlet that connects aircraft to their command.
Why Pilots Care
Civilian pilots generally won't use a COMCO, but recognizing the term in NOTAMs and on charts helps you understand what activity is happening in nearby military airspace and why certain frequencies or routes are active.
Intuition Check
Do not read command as someone giving flight commands, and do not read outlet as an electrical socket. Here, it means a controlled radio access point for aviation communications.
Example Sentence 1
The NOTAM advised that the COMCO serving the military training route would be off-air for scheduled maintenance.
Example Sentence 2
NOTAMs listed the COMCO as temporarily out of service for maintenance.