REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (July 30, 2015) -- A fully operational, multi-organizational cyber campus is a unique asset for government agencies against the emerging cyber threats.
In January 2015, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, or AMRDEC, acquired two Redstone Arsenal buildings, which are being dedicated to the cyber security mission.
"The primary focus of the AMRDEC Cyber Campus will be to provide world-class cybersecurity support to aviation and missile system customers and to provide cutting-edge research and development of cybersecurity solutions to address their most pressing challenges," said Robert Goldsmith, AMRDEC cyber lead.
The cyber campus will be home to a cadre of qualified cyber personnel with deep technical expertise in cybersecurity as it relates to hardware, software, firmware, networks, test and evaluation, modeling and simulation, forensics, industrial control systems, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, cyber training and exercise support, and other focus areas required to reduce risk that cyber threats pose to systems and personnel, Goldsmith said.
The campus will support multiple levels of security enabling the cybersecurity team to uncover, dissect, and report on system vulnerabilities to cyber exploits, malicious hardware, software, or firmware, and interface with other government agencies at the highest classification levels. Once fully operational, it is anticipated there will be representation from multiple cyber organizations across Redstone Arsenal and the Tennessee Valley.
"Physically co-locating key players will create the level of collaboration on a daily basis necessary to confront the cyber threat," Goldsmith said.
"No single place existed on the arsenal to conduct research and development of emerging cyber threats and technologies applicable to aviation and missile systems," Goldsmith said. "The fact that we are co-locating red and blue cyber teams in the same building is advantageous to both parties because we can cross train with one another and share insights and intelligence about the threats we discover."
More than 66,000 square feet, the campus will serve as a technical resource for conducting vulnerability assessments from component level to joint system of systems, advanced integrity analysis, supply chain security evaluations, requirements analysis, and analysis of cyber threat intelligence and security risks. It will include a full range of networks and multiple levels of security from unclassified to top secret, supporting full integration with the intelligence community and other key cyber agencies.
"Anyone developing a system today has to include cyber as a design consideration if they want to achieve positive acquisition outcomes," Goldsmith said. "AMRDEC provides more than research and development support for aviation and missile platforms. Our capability to analyze emerging and evolving threats to aviation and missile systems in the cyber domain is a significant asset for other organizations across Redstone Arsenal to leverage."
Goldsmith anticipates that when the center is fully operational in 2017, it will not only be in high demand from AMRDEC aviation and missile customers and Redstone Arsenal, but ultimately the Department of Defense and other government agencies. "This campus will truly be one-of-a-kind. It represents the kind of cooperation, information sharing, and focused technical investment in cyber necessary for the DOD to gain and maintain its advantage over our adversaries," he said.
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The Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to ensure decisive overmatch for unified land operations to empower the Army, the joint warfighter and our nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
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