US 10th Fleet: All cyber mission teams fully operational

The US Fleet Command/US Tenth Fleet announced Thursday that all US Navy cyber mission force teams achieved full operational capability (FOC).

The 40 teams were qualified by US Cyber Command October 6, meaning they reached full operational capability almost a year ahead of schedule.

The focus of US Cyber Command’s Cyber Mission Force teams aligns with the DoD Cyber Strategy’s three primary missions: defend DoD networks and ensure their data is held secure; support joint military commander objectives; and, when directed, defend US critical infrastructure.

FOC is an assessment that a unit has achieved all manning, capability and training requirements necessary, as part of the Cyber Mission Force (CMF), to fully perform its assigned missions as validated by US Cyber Command.

FOC is not a measurement of overall combat readiness, rather it is an externally validated evaluation that the unit has met all its capability requirements and that it performs its mission as designed.

“Reaching FOC at this point in the development of the Navy’s CMF teams is a testament to the extraordinary hard work invested in manning our teams and training our personnel,” said Vice Adm. Mike Gilday, commander, US Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet.

Reaching the FOC milestone represents a training throughput of over 18,000 course completions, 1,800 personnel, and 2,000 hours, executing full-spectrum operations during certification and training events.

US Fleet Cyber Command serves as the Navy component command to US Strategic Command and US Cyber Command, and the Navy’s Service Cryptologic Component commander under the National Security Agency/Central Security Service. Fleet Cyber Command also reports directly to the Chief of Naval Operations as an Echelon II command.

US 10th Fleet is the operational arm of Fleet Cyber Command and executes its mission through a task force structure similar to other warfare commanders. In this role, C10F provides operational direction through its Maritime Operations Center located at Fort George Meade Md., executing command and control over assigned forces in support of Navy or joint missions in cyber/networks, information operations, electronic warfare, cryptologic/signals intelligence and space.