The 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (Enhanced) and 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion conducted a combined Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) communications exercise on Fort Liberty, North Carolina, September 29, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Eric Messmer)
By Matthew Beinart |
@mbeinart22
2 years ago |
09/01/2022

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — The Army is planning to stand up a new program office in 2023 to manage its offensive cyber and space capabilities, officials told reporters on Tuesday. 

The aptly named Program Manager (PM) Cyber and Space will fall under the Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors’ (PEO IEW&S) purview, with the move taking place as the Army’s offensive cyber portfolio and priorities continue to grow.

The 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (Enhanced) and 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion conducted a combined Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) communications exercise on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, September 29, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Eric Messmer)

“[We’re] consolidating our cyber and space, those portions of the portfolio. That’s going to happen in ‘23. That’s one of the things we’re driving toward. We’re definitely trying to realign to some of those emerging priorities,” Brig. Gen. Ed Barker, deputy PEO IEW&S, told reporters during a media event at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

Mark Kitz, head of PEO IEWS, noted the Army’s offensive cyber portfolio currently falls under his office’s PM Electronic Warfare & Cyber, which also supports Army Cyber Command. 

“Because we’ve sort of seen mission growth in that area, we are going to spin off [the new PM Cyber and Space office]. Today that is an O-5 position [or Lieutenant Colonel] that we’re going to turn into an Army Colonel, an O-6 position,” Kitz said.

Kitz noted PM Cyber and Space will have responsibility for tactical cyber equipment and other offensive cyber programs like the Joint Common Access Platform (JCAP), which provides an operational cyber infrastructure for use across the services.

ManTech [MANT] announced in December 2020 it had received a $265 million award to support “designing, developing, fielding and supporting” JCAP. 

“We also do the development networks, so all the cyber development networks for the Army and we’re also now delivering to the Air Force and Navy. That all gets done out of that office,” Kitz said of the new PM Space and Cyber. 

Barker reiterated that PM Space and Cyber will not have responsibility for defensive cyber as part of its portfolio. 

“What it is it not is DCO, the defensive cyber operations. That will stay at [Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems],” Barker told reporters.