An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

USAF Graduates First Network Warfare Class

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Ashley Conner
  • 39th Information Operations Squadron
HURLBURT FIELD AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Hours of classroom instruction, simulator time, check rides, debriefs, and finally, after five weeks of effort, graduation. This may sound like the standard fare of military training, but the Dec. 7 graduation of the very first Undergraduate Network Warfare Training class at Hurlburt Field represents much more than that ... it is a major step forward in the AF's expansion into the domain of cyberspace.

The 39th Information Operations Squadron, a unit of the Air Force Information Operations Center, developed and hosts UNWT. The course represents the most comprehensive network warfare training available in the Air Force.

"Given the importance of Cyberspace to modern operations across all warfighting domains, control of the Cyber domain has become critical to military operations," said Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder, Jr., Headquarters Eighth Air Force commander.

For the first time in Air Force history, Airmen are being trained on the fundamentals of all aspects of Network Warfare. In a 38 day, high-intensity approach modeled after Undergraduate Pilot Training, UNWT educates students on the basics of warfare in cyberspace, ensuring students are exposed in a hands-on manner to realistic scenarios that encompass all facets of Network Warfare. This revolutionary training is designed to better prepare cyber operators for critical roles within the Network Warfare realm.
UNWT was carefully developed to take a non-traditional approach to Network Warfare, training students to recognize and respond to attacks not only over conventional IP-based networks, but to look to other arenas that are susceptible to attack. Training includes operational principles of Radio, Television, Telephone and other non-conventional means of communication, ensuring the Air Force continues to dominate all facets of the electromagnetic spectrum.

"The USAF has a number of Airmen (both officer and enlisted) actively conducting operations in cyberspace and the Air Force is committed to establishing a professional cadre of cyber operators," said Maj. Gen. William T. Lord, Maj. Gen. Commander, Air Force Cyber Command, provisional, commander. "UNWT is designed to support these evolving cyber requirements and is an excellent example of how the Air Force is moving forward to meet its commitment to fly, fight and win in cyberspace."

UNWT is separated into two parts. The first part is an in-depth Advanced Distributed Learning Course provided by the 229th IOS, Vermont Air National Guard. The 229th IOS recently transitioned from a detachment to a squadron and is a close mission partner with the 39th IOS in Information Operations education.


The UNWT ADL program makes introductory network warfare training available to those who can not make it to Hurlburt Field for the course, while also serving as a prerequisite for all UNWT in-resident students.

The second portion of UNWT is in-residence instruction at the 39th IOS that will graduate 96 students a year. Graduates of UNWT will then receive system-specific training upon assignment to their next duty station.

UNWT students are put through various mission simulators and network emulators to prepare them for what they will see when defending Air Force networks. To graduate, students must demonstrate the ability to create and execute a plan of action based on a given mission task and then follow up with execution analysis to assess the results.

"This course develops the network fundamentals to help us defend our networks and attack enemy nets when directed," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Yatsko, a UNWT student assigned to the 67th Network Warfare Wing in San Antonio. "We are in a war-fighting mindset, a war being fought across the networks."

The commencement of this course comes as the Air Force is focusing its attention on Cyberspace superiority by standing up the new Cyber Command, provisionally located at Barksdale AFB, La.

In the future, the 39th IOS will hold Network Warfare Operations Symposiums to allow the Airmen in the field to share real-world scenarios which will assist in the development of the applications needed to fully train Airmen defending Cyberspace. Additionally, AFIOC is pushing forward in the development of an intermediate-level network warfare training course to continue to provide training post-UNWT graduation.

For information about registration and class dates for UNWT contact ACC/A3IN at acc.a3in@langley.af.mil.