The Air Force is currently investigating a an unexpected outage of a secure computer network at Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas Nevada. The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPR) failed on September 9, 2016. All global drone and UAV operations were halted as a result.
The base serves as the military’s main center for all global drone operations and activities. The system is only accessible to Defense Department personnel and the base was secure at the time of the failure.
Air Combat Command spokeswoman Maj. Malinda Singleton told Military.com that the outage was caused by a connectivity issue and that the system in now “up and running” and all normal operations have been restored. She declined further comments on the full scope of the outage.
She did reveal that there is no backup in place for the SIPR system. She stated the Defense Department is confident that the fail safes that are currently in place are sufficient and will prevent any further outages.
She went on to state that the accidental bombing of Syrian soldiers on September 17, 2016 by a U.S.-led collation was not a result of the outage and that the two events are in no way related.
[revad2]
