Air Force presses forward with new cyber weapons platform

Amber Corrin

February 26, 2016 

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The Air Force announced in a Feb. 26 release that its Cyberspace Vulnerability Assessment/Hunter (CVA/H) cyber weapon platform now is at full operational capacity — the second cyber weapon system to go online in just over a month.

According to the Air Force, the service is equipping its cyber protection teams with CVA/H as a defensive tool to be used within internal bounds of the cyber system they are defending. Reaching FOC means that CVA/H “is fully capable to serve as the premier enclave defense platform for prioritized traffic in the Air Force Information Network (AFIN). The CVA/H weapon system enables execution of vulnerability assessments, adversary threat detection and compliance evaluations.”

The Air Force is developing its cyber capabilities and personnel as part of broader Defense Department-wide efforts to train and staff the offense and defense teams that will comprise much of U.S. Cyber Command’s operations at the service level. All of the services are charged with developing cyber protection teams as part of CyberCom’s cyber mission forces.

"This achievement underscores our commitment to the U.S. Cyber Command Cyber Protection Team mission and to the defense of prioritized cyberspace terrain in the Air Force portion of the [DoD] Information Network,” Brig Gen Stephen Whiting, AFSPC Director of Integrated Air, Space, Cyberspace and ISR Operations, said in a released statement. “CVA/H defends the Air Force's ability to fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace.

According to the release, weapon system provides the ability to find, fix, track, target, engage and assess advanced persistent threats to AF missions on prioritized network enclaves within the AFIN.

The Feb. 26 announcement comes just over a month after the Air Force launched itsfirst cyber weapons platform, the Air Force Intranet Control (AFINC) Weapon System, which reached FOC in January.

AFINC reaching FOC means that the system “is fully capable to serve as the top-level defensive boundary and entry point for all network traffic into AFINC,” according to a January Air Force release announcing the milestone.

Other Air Force cyber weapons systems in the pipeline include the Air Force Cyberspace Defense Weapon System, the Cyber Security and Control System Weapon System, the Cyber Command and Control Mission System Weapon System and the Cyberspace Defense Analysis Weapon System.