CWT Cyber Warfare Technician (CWT)

Role brief

About CWT — Cyber Warfare Technician (CWT).

Navy Cyber Warfare Technicians (CWT), the rating that replaced Cryptologic Technician Networks (CTN) in 2023, perform offensive and defensive cyber operations, network analysis, and digital forensics for U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. CWT is enlisted through the Advanced Technical Field program, and the Navy Recruiting Manual's AEF/ATF matrix publishes three alternative qualification paths: AR + 2MK + GS ≥ 255, VE + AR + MK + MC ≥ 235, or CT + MK + VE ≥ 173 with a Cyber Test score of at least 60. The first two are ASVAB line scores and are what this page evaluates; the third depends on a separate test the ASVAB does not contain.

• Plus food allowance (BAS)$460/moFlat enlisted rate, tax-free, paid on top of base pay.
• Plus housing allowance (BAH)Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is paid on top of base pay and is tax-free, but it varies by duty-station ZIP code, pay grade, and whether you have dependents — there is no single nationwide figure. Use the official DoD BAH calculator for your assignment location.DoD BAH rate lookup →

Source: DFAS 2026 active-duty basic pay tables (3.8% raise, effective Jan 1 2026) · last verified 2026-05-23 · date retrieved 2026-05-23.

• The Navy's Cyber Warfare Technician (CWT) is the rating you now enlist into if you searched for 'Cryptologic Technician Networks' (CTN): the Navy disestablished the CTN rating on 28 June 2023 and moved its Sailors and cyber-operations mission into the newly created CWT rating. Recruiting paperwork, ASVAB score sheets, and job listings use 'CWT,' so a 'CTN ASVAB score' search and a 'CWT ASVAB score' search point to the same requirements (re-verified 2026-07-15).
• The two ASVAB paths are alternatives — clear either AR + 2MK + GS ≥ 255 or VE + AR + MK + MC ≥ 235. Both come from the AEF and ATF Program Matrix (Exhibit 5-6, p. 5-31) of the Navy Recruiting Manual, COMNAVCRUITCOMINST 1130.8Q of 30 January 2025, which is the recruiting standard for enlisting into CWT. The same table adds a Single Scope Background Investigation, a 72-month obligated service and U.S. citizenship, all of which apply whichever score path you use.
• AR + 2MK + GS counts Mathematics Knowledge TWICE: it is Arithmetic Reasoning + Mathematics Knowledge + Mathematics Knowledge + General Science. That is why the minimum (255) looks so much higher than the four-test VE + AR + MK + MC path (235) — the doubled term means a strong MK standard score is worth twice as much on this route, and it is usually the easier of the two paths for a math-heavy test taker.
• The manual prints a third route, CT + MK + VE ≥ 173 with a minimum CT of 60. CT here is the Navy's Cyber Test, a separate service-specific test — it is not one of the ten subtests on the ASVAB (General Science, Arithmetic Reasoning, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Mathematics Knowledge, Electronics Information, Auto Information, Shop Information, Mechanical Comprehension, Assembling Objects). Your ASVAB results sheet will not contain a CT score, so this page documents that path rather than scoring it. If your ASVAB line scores fall short of both numbers above, ask your recruiter about the Cyber Test route.
• Until 2026-08-04 this page published a single requirement of AR + MK + EI + GS ≥ 223 for CWT, taken from a navy.com career page. That combination is not one of CWT's paths in the recruiting manual: 223 on AR + MK + EI + GS is the figure the same manual assigns to Cryptologic Technician Technical (CTT) — a different rating on the very next page of the matrix. Score lists reproducing the 223 number for CWT are quoting the wrong rating, so this page now follows the manual.
• The Navy's non-prior-service enlistment AFQT minimum is 31 (paragraph 020702 of the same manual), and the AEF/ATF matrix attaches no rating-specific AFQT minimum to CWT — the line scores above are the binding gate. Secondary score lists commonly quote AFQT 50 for CWT; the manual does not, and a 50 does appear in it as the criterion for the Loan Repayment Program rather than for the rating. Confirm with a recruiter which figure applies to your contract and any bonus.
• CWT is a Sensitive Compartmented Information rating. The manual requires U.S. citizenship and Single Scope Background Investigation eligibility, a Personnel Security Screening Questionnaire in the applicant's record, and an in-depth personal security screening interview at Recruit Training Command conducted by a Naval Information Forces representative. Moral turpitude offences are generally disqualifying and former Peace Corps members are ineligible; a record that would block a TS/SCI clearance is disqualifying regardless of ASVAB score.
• CWT carries a 72-month (six-year) obligated service commitment in the manual's AEF/ATF matrix, longer than most enlisted ratings, because of the length of the cyber training pipeline.
• The manual states that CWT 'A' school is a 26-week NEC-producing specialized school (paragraph 050206), and that CWT trainees skip the Basic Electricity and Electronics course other AEF/ATF ratings take first. Recruit Training is at Great Lakes, Illinois; the cyber pipeline runs at Pensacola, Florida, where navycs.com records a roughly seven-week Class 'C' school following 'A' school.

Source: COMNAVCRUITCOMINST 1130.8Q (Navy Recruiting Manual — Enlisted, 30 Jan 2025), Exhibit 5-6 AEF and ATF Program Matrix, p. 5-31 · last verified 2026-08-04 · date retrieved 2026-08-04.

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