Civil Air Patrol aircraft from several states are flying imagery missions over flood-ravaged portions of South Carolina to aid emergency responders in directing rescue and relief resources. “Civil Air Patrol is on the front lines supporting search and rescue, disaster assessment, and relief efforts in South Carolina,” said Middle East Region Commander Col. John Knowles in a release. A total of 21 aircraft have logged more than 100 flights and 203 flying hours, capturing 2,945 high-resolution images over the past week, CAP spokesman Steve Cox told Air Force Magazine Oct. 9. Data-linked imagery is provided in real ?time to ground incident coordinators. Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is uploading geotagged aerial photos to a website where volunteers can assist in “crowd sourced” damage assessment and analysis. Flooding due to heavy rainfalls has pushed rivers as high as 20 feet over flood stage, prompting the controlled breach of several dams to prevent catastrophic ruptures. A total of 17 deaths have been attributed to the flood waters, which are still rising, and Army and Air National Guard troops deployed across the state will soon be joined by 500 additional Guardsmen from North Carolina, NBC News reported. (Click here and select “image ranking” tab at the bottom of the webpage to assist FEMA with imagery analysis.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.