In August, the chapter gathered for the third quarter member luncheon and welcomed guest speaker and current chapter president, Col. Gary Cornn Jr. As the Ninth Air Force (9 AF) A-6 director, Col. Cornn chose to speak on 9 AF/A-6 support to Agile Combat Employment (ACE) missions, achievements and future capabilities. Col. Cornn opened with a few accomplishments of 9 AF/A-6 in support of command and control (C2) resiliency. This included standing up a new tactical C2 system at Shaw Air Force Base, re-homing the United States and partner nation radar feeds, and moving information technology (IT) services to DoD 365. When it comes to the ACE mission, Col. Cornn explained that 9 AF/A-6 plans to "support ACE with CFKs [communication flyaway kits] until the communication requirements can be determined and a suitable and scalable solution is developed."
Displaying the wide scope of capability that 9 AF carries, Col. Cornn presented the three types of CFK packages providing laptops, phones and radios for unclassified and secret communication, ranging from smaller missions supporting one to two personnel to larger missions supporting 15 to 20 personnel. Col. Cornn spoke on how equipment like this contributed to 9 AF achievements in Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB). This included standing up the base in PSAB, winning two contracts providing two 50Mps commercial Internet circuits and identifying tactical communications forces on Time-Phased Force Deployment Data. Giving insight, Col. Cornn stated that 9 AF would focus on "continuing to identify communications requirements to drive improved communications solutions" and "deploying the PSAB M-TCF to relocate the data center to a robust, hardened facility."
Col. Cornn explained what future capabilities 9 AF is pursuing. Future capabilities such as Commercial Solution for Classified (CSfS) laptops and low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SATCOM). He explained that CSfS laptops are a mobile solution providing both unclassified and classified data and voice in a single user-operated laptop. CSfS devices integrate the National Security Agency-approved classified data over commercial network encryption, virtual desktop infrastructure providing remote access for users, and multilevel security client solutions to allow access to multiple classifications of networks on a single user device. Col. Corn showed charts that displayed how LEO SATCOM technologies will provide far greater speeds (5 Gbps for less than $100 a month) for a fraction of the cost of a geosynchronous satellite (150Mps for about $3,400 a month). Finally, Col. Cornn closed, stating that 9 AF is currently using CSfS laptops and is expecting to utilize LEO SATCOM by 2023.
|
