The Vermont Air National Guard just formally activated the 229th Information Operations Squadron at the National Guard Armory on the Norwich University campus, reports the Associated Press (article via Burlington Free Press). The squadron’s mission is to help the active duty 39th IOS at Hurlburt Field, Fla., train Air Force personnel to fight wars in cyberspace. Vermont airmen have been engaged in this effort, which they pursue via the Internet, for two years or so, piggybacking on a 1998 program started by the Vermont Army National Guard. “Within about, I would say, two, two and one-half years, the Air Force told us they couldn’t operate without us,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, Vermont Adjutant General. The Air Force also has just activated a provisional headquarters for its new Cyber Command.
A new Air Force organization is searching for counter-drone firms to participate in a dozen or more exercises to help create operating plans by the end of this year for defending the service’s U.S.-based installations from drone attacks.