{"id":13602,"date":"2019-09-20T21:11:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T21:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/20\/the-air-force-has-15-areas-in-cyber-where-it-wants-help\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:52:12","slug":"the-air-force-has-15-areas-in-cyber-where-it-wants-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/home\/2019\/09\/20\/the-air-force-has-15-areas-in-cyber-where-it-wants-help\/","title":{"rendered":"The Air Force has 15 areas in cyber where it wants help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force wants industry to help provide support on a series of cyber-related capabilities that would range from software support to developing offensive cyber tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a request for information posted Sept. 20<\/a> to the Federal Business Opportunities web site, the Air Force said it wants a \u201cflexible and responsive contract vehicle to support the need for the demanding and rapidly evolving cyberspace contract services support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RFI, described as \u201cEnterprise Cyber Capabilities,\u201d includes 15 areas such as command and control, cyber planning, modeling and simulation and intrusion detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of those 15 areas are operations focused. For example, on the software front, the service wants help developing code that can modify applications or special programs that may be used by actual teams executing non-kinetic attacks or senior leaders developing combined air campaign plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defensively, the contract asks for support in system administration to create multiple and simultaneous virtual environments for training cyber protection teams and mission defense teams<\/a>. Additionally, the service specially wants assistance for cyber protection teams to gather \u201cevidence on criminal or foreign intelligence entities to mitigate possible or real-time threats, protect against espionage or insider threats, foreign sabotage, international terrorist activities, or to support other intelligence activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of offensive tools, the contract asks for support in discovering, identifying, detecting and analyzing system vulnerabilities. It also asks for analysis on capabilities present to the joint staff and combatant commanders through something called Joint Special Technical Operations (IJSTO), which is only referenced via acronym. This term, according to a 2013 report in The Week<\/a>, envelopes \u201cthe manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum to confuse, deceive, and defeat the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the Air Force wants to leverage cyber tools to cue intelligence community assets as a way to determine locations and and measures of effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou imagine a world where we\u2019re able to go take some acts in cyberspace, trying to see what their response is, sans preposition intelligence tools, to be ready to measure that response. We call it tipping and cueing,\u201d Gen. James Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command said in September<\/a> regarding the power of fusing intelligence and cyber together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army recently awarded multiple companies work under a contract vehicle it calls R4, which will essentially provide the ability for the Army to equip the entire portfolio of cyber capabilities. This would include the full range of operators from the high-end cyber mission force to the tactical Army-owned cyber and electronic warfare units and everything in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\t