USAF’ First Cyberspace Weapon System Attains FOC Status

The US Air Force’ first cyberspace weapon system has attained the Final Operation Capability (FOC) status earlier this month.

Achieving FOC means the Air Force Intranet Control (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, USAF said in a statement Tuesday.

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.

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’s mission set now includes intelligence gathering, cyberspace surveillance and reconnaissance, interdiction, and security.

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.