21 October 2024
Imagine an isolated training facility for military exercise, using simulation to test opposing teams’ capabilities and skills.
But this facility is not on the land, at sea, in air, or in space – it is virtual.
It is the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE), which supports the ADF and Five-Eyes counterparts cyber operations training against high-fidelity simulated threats.
Hosted by ADF Cyber Command in Canberra, and using PCTE, the Exercise Cyber Sentinels mission rehearsal activity strengthened military cyber capabilities, resilience, and individual and collective cyber skills.
In its second year, 77 personnel from Cyber Command operated with 100 international participants from the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Director of Joint Cyber and Influence Projects in Joint Capabilities Division, Colonel Hamish Ashman, said PCTE enabled multiple training environments that supported individual and collective training on representative cyber terrain.
PCTE is the ADF’s primary training and exercise capability for the cyber space operations workforce, as it is for US Cyber Command.
“Australia’s access to a training ecosystem aligned to our key ally provides access to an extensive training catalogue, technical support and collaboration opportunities, such as this exercise,” Colonel Ashman said.
Using PCTE allowed exercise planners to create mission-relevant scenarios to rehearse skills and develop processes to defend key cyber terrain.
Corporal Mason-John Hill of 138 Signal Squadron, a team lead participating in the exercise, said PCTE was an indispensable training tool to enable large-scale, multinational cyber training.
“It allowed us to operate our tactical kit within the training environment, giving us hands-on practice, testing our proficiency in a real-world, high-pressure scenario,” Corporal Hill said.
“I see PCTE empowering our units’ in-house cyber training.
“It gives us the ability to practise and evaluate our skills, tailor training scenarios, assess performance and foster continuous improvement in a convenient controlled environment.”
AI-enabled training aids enhance realism for defenders and opposing forces involved in the exercise.
