177th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron

177th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron

177th TFTS F-4D Phantoms, about 1988
Active 1984–Present
Country  United States
Allegiance  Kansas
Branch Air National Guard
Type Squadron
Role Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance
Part of Kansas Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas
Insignia
177th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron emblem

The 177th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron is a unit of the 184th Intelligence Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard stationed at McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita, Kansas. The 177th is a non-flying squadron which trains in cyber warfare.

Overview

The mission of the squadron is to attack American military networks, to discover vulnerabilities before a real enemy does.

The Information Warfare Aggressor role is similar to the "tiger teams" commercial firms hire (and the air force pioneered) to test the defenses of corporate networks. The two aggressor squadrons have increased the quality and quantity of attacks that can be launched against U.S. systems, to see how well the defenses hold up. Members of the squadron then analyze the results of their attack. Finally, the aggressor hackers tell the sysadmins and other concerned personnel of the target unit what they did wrong, and why.

History

On 1 February 1984, the 177th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron was established with the unit flying McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs as a formal training unit. It conducted its first student training class the same year. The squadron converted to the General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon in 1990 and the F-16CC and F-16Din 1992. It was inactivated on 1 August 1994 when the F-16s were withdrawn from McConnelland its parent group became a bomber unit flying B-1B Lancers.

Lineage

Activated and extended federal recognition on 8 February 1984
Redesignated 177th Fighter Squadron on 16 March 1992
Inactivated on 1 August 1994

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

References

     This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, November 05, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.