Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne on Thursday morning announced that the service is taking formal steps to establish an Air Force Cyberspace Command. Speaking at a defense industry conference in Arlington, Va., Wynne noted that over the past year a cyberspace task force led by Lani Kass has studied operations and gathered data to articulate the new command’s mission—a mission, he said, that many airmen already are prosecuting. Wynne wants ultimately to develop a new major command that would stand alongside Air Force Space Command and Air Combat Command as a provider of forces to ensure freedom of access. Initially, 8th Air Force at Barksdale AFB, La., will function as the lead for the cyber command. Wynne has tasked the 8th Air Force commander, Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, to develop a roadmap over the next year to provide the framework of a full major command. (Service leaders are expected to meet for a cyber summit this month.)
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
