Cyber-Attack Operations Near

Image from Defense Tech

From Aviation Week:

Continuing development of cyber-weapons and experimentation with digital warfare are triggering optimism and the occasional operational U-turn.

In a few years, the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps expect to be delivering airborne electronic fires and cyber-attacks for ground troops with a fusion of radio battalions, EA-6B Prowlers, EA-18G Growlers and a range of UAVs.

Who actually commands and controls the technology operationally and strategically remains an open question. The uncertainty was illustrated by the formation of Air Force Cyber Command, followed by its months-long pause in bureaucratic limbo and, finally, its re-designation as a numbered air force under U.S. Strategic Command. The institutional tangle was compounded because the services have still not produced a unified plan for electronic warfare and attack. It also contributed to two failures to get the Air Force back into electronic attack with an EB-52 long-range (80-100-naut.-mi.) standoff electronic attack aircraft. The design included the capability to electronically map and attack enemy networks.

Read more ....

Update: Today's Reading Assignment -- In From The Cold

My Comment: The U.S. Military is divided into various departments/services .... it has the Air Force, Marines, Navy, Army .... maybe a new service/department that is focused on Cyber issues be created that will have the same impact that the other services have.

New weapons development is clearly showing that electronic and technological advances are changing the battlefield. A man sequestered in a mountain in the central part of the United States, commanding a UAV over a battlefield in Afghanistan, can be more destructive and effective than a company of soldiers on the ground. This divide can only grow with time.