The situation, described later by a few officers, created a “very excitable and heated” exchange during a post-mission debrief at the Air Force’s Red Flag training exercise, as it’s known, said Air Force Col. DeAnna Burt, a top commander at the exercise. U.S. troops carrying out cyber operations are expected to complete specific assignments, known as contracts. Doing so can create specific windows of time in which U.S. aircraft can attack while facing fewer threats, while deviating from that plan can put pilots at risk in an actual combat operation.
“We said, ‘Hold on here: Did you clear this with the mission commander?’ ” said Col. Michael P. Dombrowski, the air operations center director during Red Flag. “Because the cut-off for good ideas was about six hours ago, dude.”
The exchange was considered a healthy part of the training exercise. But it also symbolizes some of the challenges for the U.S. military as it shifts its focus to prepare for potential wars against adversaries with advanced weapons. The transition to so-called “multi-domain operations” calls for the Pentagon to prepare not only for wars on land, air and sea, but for newer forms of warfare that incorporate both space and cyberspace.
Just as important, the shift requires new collaborations between different parts of the military, and trust between them. Fighter pilots, for example, must increasingly rely on cyberattacks created by colleagues on the ground in order to get in and out of enemy airspace safely. Air Force Space Command, meanwhile, recently adopted a new model known as the Space Mission Force in which crews will be reorganized to keep U.S. military satellites safe from potential adversaries.
