The Air Force needs to certify its senior leaders to operate on the network, just as wing commanders are certified to fly the aircraft under their command, says Maj. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins, vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency. To that end, the Air Force also should decertify those individuals that do something wrong and require them to receive additional training before they can operate on the network again, he told attendees of AFA’s inaugural CyberFutures Conference taking place in National Harbor, Md, Thursday. “None of us would get on an aircraft with the knowledge that the pilot and everyone on that aircraft had not been certified and also recertified at some point or another,” said Hawkins. He added, “We should be at the same place in cyber and until we get there, we will have the same type of problems that we have now.”
The Air Force's new Aircraft Readiness Unit will maintain and provide Collaborative Combat Aircraft for operations, but won’t serve as a “schoolhouse” teaching fighter pilots how to manage these escort drones.