The U.S. Air Force's Information Warfare Battlelab was launched on March 17, 1997. It was one of six labs that the chief of staff directed be established to help the Air Force explore new ideas and foster innovative technologies to improve the capabilities of the Air Force's core competencies. It is a corps of Information Warfare (IW) experts linked with other Information Warfare organizations that support the full spectrum of Air Force operations by rapidly identifying innovative and superior ways to: employ IW capabilities; organize, train and equip Air Force IW forces; and influence development of IW doctrine and tactics in order to meet current and emerging Air Force missions.