Twenty-Fourth Air Force

The Twenty-Fourth Air Force (24 AF) - Air Forces Cyber (AFCYBER) is a Numbered Air Force (NAF) with the United States Air Force (USAF). The USAF has consolidated its cyberspace combat and support forces into 24 AF. The Twenty-Fourth Air Force is the Air Force component of U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). The current commander is Major General Burke E. "Ed" Wilson, who assumed command July 2014.

Formation

The Twenty-Fourth Air Force (24 AF) was originally intended to be a part of the now-defunct Air Force Cyber Command (AFCYBER); however, 24 AF became a component of the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) on 18 August 2009.

In August 2008, then-new Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz placed a stop order suspending implementation of Air Force Cyber Command (AFCYBER), halting personnel assignments and activation of units. On 6 October 2008, following its annual Corona conference, the Air Force announced that the activation of AFCYBER would not take place, and that a Numbered Air Force, the Twenty-Fourth (24 AF), would gain the cyber warfare mission as part of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC).

Power over Ethernet

Power over Ethernet or PoE describes any of several standardized or ad-hoc systems which pass electrical power along with data on Ethernet cabling. This allows a single cable to provide both data connection and electrical power to devices such as wireless access points or IP cameras. Unlike standards such as Universal Serial Bus which also power devices over the data cables, PoE allows long cable lengths. Power may be carried on the same conductors as the data, or it may be carried on dedicated conductors in the same cable.

There are several common techniques for transmitting power over Ethernet cabling. Two of them have been standardized by IEEE 802.3. Since only two of the four pairs are needed for 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX, power may be transmitted on the unused conductors of a cable. In the IEEE standards, this is referred to as Alternative B. Power may also be transmitted on the data conductors by applying a common-mode voltage to each pair. Because twisted-pair Ethernet uses differential signalling, this does not interfere with data transmission. The common mode voltage is easily extracted using the center tap of the standard Ethernet pulse transformer. This is similar to the phantom power technique commonly used for powering audio microphones. In the IEEE standards, this is referred to as Alternative A.

Eighth Air Force

The Eighth Air Force (8 AF) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft.

Established on 22 February 1944 by the redesignation of VIII Bomber Command at RAF High Wycombe, England, 8 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the European Theater of World War II, engaging in operations primarily in the Northern Europe AOR; carrying out strategic bombing of enemy targets in France, the Low countries, and Germany; and engaging in air-to-air fighter combat against enemy aircraft until the German capitulation in May 1945. It was the largest of the deployed combat Army Air Forces in numbers of personnel, aircraft, and equipment.