Col. Lauren Courchaine, commander of the U.S. Air Force's 67th Cyberspace Operations Group, said the service’s new cyber unit would enable it to leverage a more established team of cyber experts, C4ISRnet reported Sunday.
Courchaine told the publication in an interview that the 16th Air Force/Air Forces Cyber would also help the service provide a cyber team that can better fill the skills gap at the U.S. Cyber Command.
16th AF combines the 24th and 25th Air Force to consolidate electronic warfare, cyber, weather and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations. Teams under the new unit serve as “combat mission teams” that operate on behalf of combatant commands.
“We looked at the intelligence squadron and focused on the position descriptions that really were supporting the cyber mission force … so that we can merge those intelligence professionals into the cyber operations squadron in order to build the mission elements that supported the combatant command requirements,” said Courchaine.
The unit was launched last year and recently achieved a full operational capability designation. The Air Force’s final realignment package, which includes details on new units such as a subgroup within the 67th Cyberspace Wing, is still awaiting approval from the Air Staff.
