Twenty-Fourth Air Force / Air Forces Cyber (AFCYBER) was a

Numbered Air Force A Numbered Air Force (NAF) is a type of organization in the United States Air Force that is subordinate to a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, major command (MAJCOM) and has assigned to it operational units such as wings, squ ...

within the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. The Air Force consolidated its cyberspace combat and support forces into 24 AF. 24 AF was the Air Force component of

U.S. Cyber Command United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It unifies the direction of cyberspace operations, strengthens DoD cyberspace capabilities, and integra ...

. On 11 October 2019, the 24th AF was merged with the 25th AF to form a reactivated 16th Air Force.

Formation

The 24AF was originally intended to be a part of the now-defunct Air Force Cyber Command; however, 24AF became a component of

Air Force Space Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

on 18 August 2009. In August 2008, then-

Air Force Chief of Staff The chief of staff of the Air Force (acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is a statutory office () held by a general in the United States Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to th ...

Gen. The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; Hebrew language, Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its i ...

Norton A. Schwartz placed a stop order suspending implementation of Air Force Cyber Command, halting personnel assignments and unit activations. On 6 October 2008, following its annual Corona conference, the Air Force announced Air Force Cyber Command activation would not take place, and that a

, 24AF, would gain the cyber warfare mission as part of

. One key element under 24 AF is the Air Force's primary network warfare wing, the

67th Cyberspace Wing The 67th Cyberspace Wing is a United States Air Force wing stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. It was activated in October 1993 as a military intelligence unit and is assigned to the Sixteenth Air Force. The wing was first activated ...

, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The new NAF also gained: * The

688th Cyberspace Wing The United States Air Force's 688th Cyberspace Wing is a cyberspace operations unit located at Joint Base San Antonio (Lackland), Texas. The wing delivers information operations and engineering infrastructure for air, space, and cyberspace mil ...

– JBSA-Lackland, Texas * The

689th Combat Communications Wing The 689th Combat Communications Wing was a wing of the United States Air Force stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The wing was activated on 9October 2009 as a subordinate unit of Twenty-Fourth Air Force. On 5June 2013, the wing was in ...

''(now inactivated)'' –

Robins Air Force Base Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

* The

624th Operations Center The 624th Operations Center (624 OC) is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. It was inactivated on 16 March 2020 and last located at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, with its responsibilities transferred to the newly activated 616th O ...

(''taking over duty and personnel of the

608th Air Force Network Operations Center 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

'') – JBSA-Lackland, Texas * Although now administratively aligned under

Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...

, the

Air Force Network Integration Center The Cyberspace Capabilities Center (CCC), located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the primary organization that develops cyber domain requirements in the United States Air Force. The center's goals are to attain a unity of effort of funct ...

''(formerly Air Force Communications Agency)'', works closely with 24AF on its mission to build and sustain Air Force networks. Over 14,000 Airmen make up 24 AF. Many of these are in place at other organizations. Air Force units also host cyber specialists from other organizations. Before the 24 AF was activated, the Air Force had announced six possible locations for its headquarters:

Barksdale AFB Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale AFB ...

, LA;

Lackland AFB Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Bexar County, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and an enclave of the city of Sa ...

, TX;

Langley AFB Langley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Hampton, Virginia, adjacent to Newport News. It was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the entry of the United States into World War I in April 19 ...

, VA;

Offutt AFB Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the Air C ...

, NE; Peterson AFB, CO; and Scott AFB, IL. On 15 May 2009, Air Force officials announced Lackland as the preferred alternative, and the decision was confirmed on 12 August 2009. The organization officially stood-up on 18 August 2009. On 22 January 2010, 24AF was certified by AFSPC/CC for its Initial Operational Capability. Full Operational Capability was declared on 1 October 2010.

History

In 2014, 24 AF provided the Cyber Mission Force for the Exercise Red Flag for the first time. During U.S. Strategic Command's Exercise Global Lightning 14, 24AF operated as a Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber in support of a combatant commander during a large joint exercise for the first time. Twenty-Fourth Air Force was reassigned to

on 17 July 2018.

Units

, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB *

, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB **67th Cyberspace Operations Group, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***67th Operations Support Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***91st Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***315th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Ft. Meade ***352d Network Warfare Squadron, Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, JBPHH ***390th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB **318th Cyberspace Operations Group, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***39th Information Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field ***90th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***318th Operations Support Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***346th Test Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB **567th Cyberspace Operations Group, Scott Air Force Base, Scott AFB ***92d Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***833d Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***834th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***836th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***835th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Scott Air Force Base, Scott AFB ***837th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Scott Air Force Base, Scott AFB *

, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***688th Operations Support Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB **5th Combat Communications Group, Robins Air Force Base, Robins AFB ***5th Combat Communications Support Squadron, Robins Air Force Base, Robins AFB ***51st Combat Communications Squadron, Robins Air Force Base, Robins AFB ***52d Combat Communications Squadron, Robins Air Force Base, Robins AFB **26th Network Operations Group, 26th Cyberspace Operations Group, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***26th Network Operations Squadron, Maxwell Air Force Base, Maxwell AFB ***26th Operations Support Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***33d Network Warfare Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***68th Network Warfare Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***426th Network Warfare Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB **38th Cyberspace Engineering Installation Group, Tinker Air Force Base, Tinker AFB ***38th Contracting Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Tinker AFB ***38th Cyberspace Readiness Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Tinker AFB ***38th Engineering Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Tinker AFB ***38th Operations Support Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Tinker AFB ***85th Engineering Installation Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, Keesler AFB **690th Cyberspace Operations Group, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***83d Network Operations Squadron, Langley Air Force Base, Langley AFB ***561st Network Operations Squadron, Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson AFB ***690th Intelligence Support Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***690th Network Support Squadron, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland AFB ***690th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, JBPHH ***691st Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Ramstein AB

List of commanders

References

External links