Training for Cyber Operations

Air Force leadership has repeatedly emphasized the criticality of cyberspace as a warfighting domain both in its own right and as a critical part of the multi-domain battle. An important part of that challenge is optimizing the training provided to cyber warriors. A Phase I review of the cyber operations training pipeline indicated that initial qualification training was more heavily weighted to knowledge outcomes than one would expect. This created concern that airmen reaching the units were not as close to mission-ready as desirable. To address this, Sonalysts’ team will provide more skill development opportunities by developing an environment that supports on-demand, independent, and instructor-mediated practice. To the extent needed by stakeholders, the Phase II environment will emphasize realism, performance assessment and coaching, and enhanced instructional supports, such as “up front� IMI or “back end� AARs. Sonalysts’ Phase II approach will merge its proven adaptive training technology with the power of Metova’s Virtual Interconnected Training Environment platform. The result will be an interactive and immersive instructional experience that can support initial and mission qualification training to improve the readiness of cyber warriors and their ability to dominate the fight in cyberspace and as part of the multi-domain battle.