Soldiers and civilians from the U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) headquarters and ARCYBER’s Cyber Protection Brigade are building cyber skills and allied partnership while competing in Cyber Spartan 5, this year’s iteration of an annual inter-unit cyber competition led by the British Army’s 13th Signal Regiment. The ARCYBER team, at Fort Gordon, Ga., is one of 22 allied teams that are virtually taking part in the five-day competition based at the regiment’s Cyber Training Environment at Blanding Camp in Dorset, United Kingdom. The 13th’s goals for the exercise are to develop cyber knowledge and skills within the British Army, and to identify cyber talent.
The Army achieved an initial cyber operating capability in October 2009 by employing the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) supported by NETCOM/9thSC(A), 1st IO CMD (L) and INSCOM. The command was originally announced to be named Army Forces Cyber Command (ARFORCYBER). The command was established on 1 October 2010 with the name Army Cyber Command (Army Cyber), commanded by then-Maj. Gen. Rhett A. Hernandez. There are plans for the command to move to Fort Gordon, in Augusta, Georgia home of the United States Army Cyber Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Cyber Corps and Signal Corps.
U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) conducts information dominance and cyberspace operations as the Army service component command of United States Cyber Command. The command was established on 1 October 2010 and was intended to be the Army’s single point of contact for external organizations regarding information operations and cyberspace. United States Army Cyber Command directs and conducts integrated electronic warfare, information and cyberspace operations as authorized, or directed, to ensure freedom of action in and through cyberspace and the information environment, and to deny the same to its adversaries.
Army Cyber is the Army service component command supporting U.S. Cyber Command. All 41 of the Active Army’s cyber mission force teams reached full operational capability (FOC) by September 2017. The cyber mission force teams are composed of a defensive component, denoted cyber protection teams (CPTs), and an offensive component. In addition, 21 CPTs are being readied in the Reserve component. Initial operational capability (IOC) for some of the cyber protection teams was attained as early as 2014 during DoD missions.
