AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The U.S. Army, joint and coalition partners, industry and academia gathered to discuss and gain a better understanding of the challenges cyber brings into a combat arms fight at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's TechNet Augusta 2016, August 2-4.
Gen. Dennis Via, Army Materiel Command commanding general, delivered the final day's keynote address and emphasized the importance of cyber in today's military operations.
"From my perspective, it is unmistakable that the cyber security of our logistics, maintenance, manufacturing, and enterprise resource planning systems are essential, in fact critical to the overall readiness of our Army and joint force," Via said. "When our nation calls, we must be ready. Our leadership must be ready; the organizations they command must be ready, and most of all, the data and the communications systems that they use must be ready."
AMC provides the Army with materiel readiness and equips, sustains and enables the warfighter through technology, acquisition support, materiel development and logistics power projection across the spectrum of joint military operations, according to the AMC website.
"AMC is committed to providing our Soldiers and the joint force the materiel and equipment they need to accomplish their mission anytime or any place in the world, because at the end of the day, it is truly about the Soldier," Via said.
The Army regularly partners with industry and academia to bring a variety of solutions to Soldiers.
"I know firsthand that our Army cannot encompass its mission without the great partnership we enjoy with industry. That's especially true of this community, the communications, electronics and cyber industry," said Via. "Cyber is the only domain that we share everyday with adversaries and potential opponents. We must be better than they are if our forces are to succeed."
The Army needs everyone involved in cyber to succeed, he explained.
"We need a network environment where cybersecurity and cyber situational awareness is in real time, capable of automated response, reacting at machine speed, self-diagnosing and self-healing," Via said, adding that such advanced solutions should be built-in programs much earlier in the acquisition process.
Beyond industry partnerships, AMC has focused on its Organic Industrial Base and in-house expertise including the development and retention of employees.
"We are working to improve the way we recruit, educate and train cyber professionals. Our information technology workforce is on the front line of the cyber security fight," Via said. "So the training and education we provide must always give them the technological advantage over our peer competitors"
AMC Soldiers, Department of the Army Civilians and contractors remain the cornerstone of everything the command does, Via noted.
"These professionals -- military and civilians -- are tremendous patriots, and our military cannot accomplish the mission without them," he said.
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