Air Force Reserve Command inactivated the 960th Cyberspace Operations Group, Det. 1 and re-designated it the 854th Combat Operations Squadron during a recent ceremony at JBSA-Lackland, Texas. The squadron, now the only cyberspace operations center, has been tasked with integrating citizen airmen into the Active Duty’s 624th Operations Center cyberspace command and control mission. The ‘Scorpions’ join an elite group of nearly 800 Reservists working in cyberspace operations, states the April 5 release. “The unique part of our unit is that we’ve been fully integrated with the Active Duty mission since day one,” said Lt. Col. Samuel McGlynn, 854th COS director of operations. “Our operations tempo is always high, we’re not training for a future mission … our mission is now.”
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.