After a year’s effort by a training development team, officials at Keesler AFB, Miss., earlier this month began the first block of a new cyber transport course that combines training in three formerly separate specialty fields, according to a Nov. 18 release. “We took elements from computer maintenance, network integrations, and voice network systems courses to create the new cyber transport course,” said Ann Owens, cyber transport flight chief with Keesler’s 388th Training Squadron. Just this summer, the Air Force announced plans to put cyber warfare training at the Mississippi Gulf Coast base, which already had been working on combining curriculums for airmen who provide long-haul communications support. The first of Keesler’s new cyber course comprises only 11 students, but officials expect the student load for Fiscal 2010 to be about 680 students. (Includes Keesler report by Angela Cutrer)
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.