The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla., responds to multiple calls for help around the country “on any given day” as the inland search and rescue coordinator for the entire US, according to Lt. Col. Clifton Hicks, AFRCC director of operations. On July 10, for instance, the center handled three rescue operations, one each in Colorado, Utah, and Washington, working with local and state agencies that contacted the center for assistance. In many cases, the AFRCC turns to the Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol to conduct on-the-spot airborne searches. Last year alone, CAP helped save 91 people. The AFRCC, part of US Northern Command, operates 24/7 with “some of the sharpest SAR coordinators the military has to offer,” said Hicks. (Tyndall report by 1st Lt. Jared Scott)
The Pentagon’s cutting-edge technology research agency awarded cash prizes worth $8.5 million at hacker conference DEFCON last week as part of a contest to build open-source generative AI tools that can help find and patch software vulnerabilities.