How a merger will expand the Air Force’s cyber edge

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How a merger will expand the Air Force’s cyber edge
By: Mark Pomerleau / Fifth Domain - 4-5-19
RE: https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/air-...es-cyber-edge/

Photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/El...PMXBNBM4X4.jpg
24th and 25th Air Force will integrate, creating the service's first information warfare numbered Air Force. (J.M. Eddins Jr./Air Force)

The Air Force is merging its main cyber and intelligence organizations after years of discussion and speculation.

24th Air Force, or Air Forces Cyber, will merge with 25th Air Force — responsible for global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance this summer — according to an April 4 press release.

Officials had been coy about the potential merger when asked directly about it, despite publicly referencing it as recently as mid-March.

The merger follows several initiatives within the Air Force to integrate cyber and ISR together.

Last summer, the Air Force reassigned 24th Air Force from Air Force Space Command to Air Combat Command. At the headquarters level, the service created a new deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and cyber effects operations.

“The synergy between cyber, ISR, [electronic warfare] and [information operations] will increase unity of effort across these capabilities, resulting in new and improved options for combatant commanders,” the Air Force’s press release said.

“The integration also better aligns these units with priorities outlined in the 2018 National Defense Strategy and delivers the first ‘Information Warfare’ [numbered Air Force] for the Air Force.”

Even before the recent moves, from the beginning AFCYBER always maintained a close link between the two numbered Air Forces with 24th supplying the cyber personnel and 25th supplying the intelligence personnel.

“The merger of 24th and 25th is the next step in leveraging and integrating new ideas and technologies to both improve the quality and speed of decision-making and deliver improved effects for commanders,” Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command, said.

“This formalizes the existing collaborations between cyber and ISR while expanding our competitive space in EW and IO, ultimately improving readiness and increasing lethality across the range of military operations — all vital to the success of multidomain war fighting in the 21st century.”

The release also said the new information warfare numbered Air Force bolsters the Air Force’s ability to “present electromagnetic spectrum forces and capabilities to execute missions alongside joint and interagency partners.”

Other services have integrated these capabilities to form a more cohesive information warfare package that includes cyber, electronic warfare, intelligence and information operations.

The Air Force also recently concluded a year-long study into how to better integrate electronic warfare with its forces.

The Air Force said the final organization structure has not been determined for the 24th and 25th merger, but it anticipates an activation ceremony in the summer of 2019.

About the writer: Mark Pomerleau is a reporter for C4ISRNET and Fifth Domain

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Northrop to deliver Triton drone to Australia in 2023, says Air Force official
By: Nigel Pittaway
RE: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-...orce-official/

Photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/z-...6E7ZFEHO5Y.jpg
A Triton mock-up with Royal Australian Air Force markings was on display at the 2019 Avalon Airshow. (Nigel PIttaway/Staff)

MELBOURNE, Australia — The Royal Australian Air Force is on track to take delivery of the first of six Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drones in 2023, a senior official said Tuesday at the Avalon Airshow.

Group Capt. Jason Lind, the director of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare at Air Force Headquarters in Canberra, said the country has allocated AU$1.4 billion (U.S. $1 billion) for the acquisition of the aircraft and ground control systems. It’s expected the total spent over the life of the program will fall between AU$3 billion and AU$4 billion.

Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper forecast the requirement for seven Triton drones under Project Air 7000 Phase 1B to supplement the manned Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft with the Air Force’s Surveillance and Response Group. A decision to acquire six aircraft was announced by Defence Minister Christopher Pyne on June 26, representing Gate 2 (Second Pass) approval. A decision on the seventh aircraft will be made at a later date.

Australia is acquiring the multiple intelligence gathering version of the Triton, and the Gate 2 decision saw the firm order for the first aircraft, with the others to be added as milestones are achieved and as the variant matures in service with the U.S. Navy.

All aircraft are expected to be in service by mid-2025.

Lind said Australia has entered into a cooperative development program with the U.S. Navy to further develop the Triton, adding that eight Royal Australian Air Force personnel and defense officials are embedded in the U.S. program office. He said the program will leverage experience gained through a similar cooperative program currently in place for the P-8A.

“We have learned a lot of things and derived a lot of ‘goodness’ out of the Poseidon cooperative program, and we’ll be working closely with the U.S. Navy to further develop Triton and how we can leverage off some of their support methodologies as well,” Lind said.

“I think Triton brings something incredibly different to the RAAF and the wider Australian Defence Force."

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Personal note: It seems of late the entire worldwide (all Countries) - will eventually be a network of devices for early warning of any dangerous events. Is this insecurity or just a network of necessary - cover your ass - just in case? Regardless the world today has become very insecure and the days of not thinking about such catastrophic dangers have become a real possibility. Sad isn't it.

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