DES MOINES, Iowa – The 132d Wing’s Cyberspace Range Squadron hosted its first training event at the 132d Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, Feb. 29-March 3.

The 132d RANS is a first-of-its-kind cyber range provider for the Air National Guard, focusing on certifying cyberspace capabilities to the joint force.

Members of the 168th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, also attached to the 132d Wing, were the first clients of the range and used the training to hone their skills on the weapon system.

“The event hosted by the RANS provided an opportunity for our operators to train in a realistic and holistic manner that is not present in other training platforms,” said Capt. Joseph Wilburn, 168th COS team lead. “The RANS team and their weapon system simulator possess the flexibility to adapt to the operator’s specific training needs in real time that ensures skill improvement remains consistent throughout the event. The training event demonstrated by the RANS represents a significant force multiplier for Air National Guard cyber protection teams.”

The exercise aimed to increase the proficiency of the 168th COS in detecting, validating and responding to cyber threats. The exercises improve Cyber Mission Force mission readiness by providing scenarios as a service, meeting the annual training requirements of cyber units.

“Our first range event was significant because it proved to the cyber community that we are capable of providing this service and why Iowa is the right choice for the Range Squadron,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Taylor, 132d RANS commander.

Capt. Chad McDonnell, 132d RANS director of operations, said the training events offer more than just a virtual range environment where cyber operators can practice. The RANS provides all the required roles for evaluating teams, opposing force teams, cyber intelligence and a mission partner to serve as the organization the team is defending. Additionally, they build the range environment so their customers can deploy their physical cyber weapon system.

“This is not only important because it allows them to train like they fight, but it allows their maintenance team the opportunity to receive crucial training as well by physically deploying their equipment to an alternate location, configuring it to connect to the mission partner’s network, and providing weapon system maintenance for the operators during the event,” said McDonnell.

At the end of the event, exercise facilitators provided the 168th COS’s training, standards and evaluation shop with a document that identified every task and event they accomplished to maintain their operator currencies and proficiencies.

“We’re able to do all of this because we have fully qualified cyber operators with real-world mobilizations under their belt, in addition to the years of experience in the civilian sector,” said McDonnell. “Our Airmen and the experience they bring is truly our greatest asset to this unit.”

By MSgt Michael Kelly, 132d Wing, Public Affairs, Iowa Air National Guard

WASHINGTON (AFNS) —  

The Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Digital and AI Office, Defense Innovation Unit, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Army Pacific Command and the U.S. Air Force will host a multi-classification hackathon open to all U.S. citizens, Feb. 5-9, 2024.

A hackathon is an innovation event commonly employed by technology companies in which teams develop prototypes in response to enterprise challenges associated with data. The BRAVO 11 Bits2Effects hackathon will occur at one of the DOD AI Battle Labs on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Any American citizen is eligible to apply, regardless of whether they currently work for the federal government or possess a security clearance. Applications, available online here, will be accepted on a rolling first-come-first-serve basis with the first group of acceptances taking place in mid-December. Due to past events exceeding 400 participants, BRAVO has secured an over-flow room, although organizers still expect demand to exceed supply.

Attendees are not required to hold a security clearance. However, certain spaces, use-cases and datasets may require a U.S. secret security clearance or higher. Applicants may apply as an employee for the U.S. government, a U.S. government contractor working on behalf of a federal contract or as U.S. citizen either affiliated or unaffiliated with a company. Any U.S. federal employees or federal contractors are eligible to submit potential use-cases and proposed collaborations within the application process. Sourcing a use-case to these hackathons often results in an operational prototype and feedback for the sourcing organization.

Starting in 2021, the U.S. Air Force began organizing multi-service prototyping events, known as BRAVO hackathons, to expedite learning and capability development from classified and protected operational data. This year’s BRAVO 11 Bits2Effects, the fourth BRAVO hackathon and first-held inside a combatant command, is seeking to produce solutions to combatant command challenges utilizing Indo-Pacific operational theater data. BRAVO utilizes a permissive software development environment that permits the co-mingling of classified and protected data with untrusted open-source and commercial software otherwise not approved for production systems within minutes.

Prior hackathons have produced prototypes influencing major Defense Department programs in areas including large language models, space launch, flight telemetry and biometrics, unmanned systems, personnel recovery, security classification, sensing and targeting and battle damage assessment among others.

“In the early 1920s, Army Col. Billy Mitchell assessed battleships, a top military funding priority of the Department of War, could be sunk by bombers just 1/80th the cost,” said Stuart Wagner, Chief Digital Transformation Officer for the Department of the Air Force and BRAVO AI Battle Labs Executive Agent. “To disprove widely held resourcing beliefs of senators, four-star generals and the Secretary of War, Mitchell organized the Project B exercises where bombers repeatedly sunk German-captured battleships, changing warfare by turning investments to airpower in the leadup of World War II.

The BRAVO DoD AI Battle Labs are again seeking to change how warfare is conducted by enabling innovators to develop and employ data driven effects during competition and conflict.”

Applicants looking to participate may do so in one of three roles:

The “Hacker” role is open to all applicants and expects project builders with varying skill sets and experience, including operational and warfighter expertise, software development, data science, machine learning, design and user interface/user design, data visualization and product management. Hackers may optionally supply a use case during the application process.

The “Hacker Subject Matter Expert” role is open to government and government contractors who lead one or more teams with specific expertise about a use case or dataset or supplies and administers infrastructure utilized at the hackathon. HackerSMEs will be required to supply a use case during the application process.

The “Supporter” role, open to government and government contractors, provides administrative support to the event by running security, facilitating supplies delivery, organizing social events and facilitating the delivery of science fair materials and attendee check-in.

Any federal government organization (contractor or government) is eligible to submit a use case, dataset, infrastructure or potential collaboration with the hackathon by submitting a Hacker/HackerSME application to the event. Further clarification can be obtained via saf.cn.bravo@us.af.mil. U.S. citizens and industry not leveraging an existing DoD contract for their proposed collaboration are encouraged to contact the Defense Innovation Unit at onramp-hack-bravo@diu.mil.

Story by U.S. Department of Defense