New Wright-Pat facility aims to improve cyber defenses of fighters and bombers

By: Diana Stancy Correll

The Air Force has opened a $1.5 million facility designed to improve the fighter and bomber fleets' cyber defenses against adversaries. The new work area will provide a collaborative space for acquisition professionals to learn about current and emerging threats and better protect against them.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Fighters and Bombers Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio unveiled the facility during a July 9 ribbon cutting ceremony.

“We are in an age where we have a very sophisticated threat and an adversary that is really trying to get into all of our systems,” Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, fighters and bombers program executive officer, said in a recent Air Force news release. “This facility is absolutely going to be at the core of how we protect our systems moving forward.”

Joseph Bradley, director of the Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapons Systems, which provided funding and expertise for the project, called it a “key component of the CROWS mission” and said it will boost the Air Force's collaboration and ability to tackle challenges.

The facility isn't the only one that CROWS intends to help launch. According to the Air Force, CROWS wants to set up similar facilities at development, acquisition and sustainment centers over the next five years.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/07/16/new-wright-pat-facility-aims-to-improve-cyber-defenses-of-fighters-and-bombers/