First cyberspace weapon system attains full operational capability (FOC) status

A major milestone was achieved on January 7 when the Air Force Intranet Control (AFINC) Weapon System became the first cyberspace weapon system to reach FOC status, the AFSPC Public Affairs office announced January 19.

Achieving FOC means the AFINC weapon system is fully capable to serve as the top-level defensive boundary and entry point for all network traffic into the Air Force Information Network.  The AFINC weapon system controls the flow of all external and inter-base traffic through standard, centrally managed gateways.

The AFINC weapon system consists of 16 Gateway Suites, 15 SIPRNET Nodes, 200+ Service Delivery Points, two Integrated Management Suites, and is operated by the 26th Network Operations Squadron (26th NOS) located at Gunter Annex, Montgomery, AL.

“It was an amazing team effort to achieve FOC,” said Lt Col Omar Velasco, 26th NOS commander.  “We couldn’t have done it without our Air Force Lifecycle Management Center Program Office at Hanscom AFB, HQ AFSPC and 24th Air Force staffs, and most importantly our dedicated military, civilian, and contractor personnel employing the AFINC cyber weapon system to sustain and defend the Air Force network.”

The AFINC weapon system replaced and consolidated 100+ regionally managed disparate Air Force network entry points into 16 centrally managed access points for all traffic through the Air Force network.  The AFINC weapon system provides greater agility to take defensive actions across the network.  AFINC was officially designated a weapon system by the Air Force Chief of Staff in March 2013 and achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in May 2014.

“As the first line of defense for our network, the 26th NOS team is responsible for more than one billion firewall, web, and email blocks per week from suspicious and adversarial sources,” stated Col Pamela Woolley, 26th Cyberspace Operations Group commander.  “Our network is under constant attack and it is a testament to the dedication of our 26th NOS team that our network reliability and traffic flow remains consistently high.”

The AFINC Cyberspace Weapon System serves more than 1M Air Force users at 237 sites worldwide.  Their infrastructure is among the largest in the world, yet operated and maintained by a single Air Force unit.  As the weapon system and 26th NOS operations have evolved, their mission set now includes intelligence gathering, cyberspace surveillance and reconnaissance, interdiction, and security.

After declaring the AFINC weapon system FOC, Brigadier General Stephen Whiting, HQ AFSPC Director of Integrated Air, Space, Cyberspace and ISR Operations stated, “This is a great achievement for the Air Force and the first cyberspace weapon system to achieve FOC.  We look forward to continued rapid progress and maturation of the Air Force Cyberspace mission.  As we all know, our mission is to fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace.”

Other cyberspace weapons systems include the Air Force Cyberspace Defense Weapon System, the Cyber Security and Control System Weapon System, the Cyber Command and Control Mission System Weapon System, the Cyberspace Defense Analysis Weapon System, and the Cyberspace Vulnerability Assessment/Hunter Weapon System.

Source: AFSPC Public Affairs