The Air Force’s top information officer said Tuesday protecting the aerial network is one of his top priorities this year. That’s a daunting challenge since the network is hosted on aircraft that are moving exceedingly fast “We think we know how the terrestrial layer works. We think we know how the space layer works, but what happens when you effectively put routers on devices that are traveling Mach 3, or, in a missile, Mach 6?” said Lt. Gen. Bill Lord, USAF’s chief of warfighting integration, to reporters in the Pentagon. Another priority is figuring out the network that will broadcast F-35 intelligence feeds in US-controlled airspace and what types of waveforms are available, he added.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
