Army and industry to meet over cyber trainer

Army and industry representatives will meet again to discuss a virtual cyber warfare training simulator that will work like a firing range for the all of the Defense Department's keyboard warriors.

An industry day for the Persistent Cyber Training Environment is scheduled for Nov. 26 in Orlando, FL, according to a Federal Business Opportunities notice. This will be the second such meeting this year.

The training system is "to enable the [cyber mission force] to conduct joint training, exercises, mission rehearsals, experimentation, certification, re-certification, and assessments of cyber capabilities in support of the National Security Strategy," according to a draft statement of work by the Army program executive office for simulation, training, and instrumentation.  

The system has been compared to a marksmanship range in how it will simulate various obstacles a CMF operator might face. However, PCTE is also much more than that as it must also simulate a realistic environment and scenarios as well as connect one range to another wirelessly in other locations.

"In short, PCTE is not a cyber range. It is every aspect of a training exercise that would take place on a range," according to the draft statement.

Nov. 2 was the last day the Army would accept information from industry as part of its fact-finding mission for PCTE.

A request for proposals for the training system is to be released in fiscal year 2019, with an award to follow in early FY-20, according to a presentation the Army made last November. The award could be as much as $750 million, with a seven-year period of performance.