A Stealthy Cyber Domain

The Air Force needs to develop an acquisition strategy specific to the cyber domain, where problems arise and must be addressed within seconds, minutes, or, at the most, hours. “When we need to make changes, it has to be done at that kind of speed, so going through the normal acquisition process isn’t going to work in this domain,” said Brig. Gen. Charles Shugg, vice commander of 24th Air Force, in his remarks Friday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. Headquartered at Lackland AFB, Tex,, 24th AF is USAF’s cyber operations arm. Despite the acquisition challenges, Shugg said the cyber world is “ripe” for research and development. He said his organization is working with industry and the Air Force Research Lab to come up with the next great idea—something akin to the development of stealth aircraft in the air domain. “We need to make huge strides to keep up with our adversaries and to get to the point where we can neutralize them with our strategies,” he said.