Team Azure of North Hollywood High School in North Hollywood, Calif., beat out 620 teams to win the title of national champion in the Open Division of the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot VI national youth cyber defense competition. Meanwhile, the Fearsome Falcons of Clearfield High School’s Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program in Clearfield, Utah, bested 871 other teams to win the All Service Division. Team Cyber Knights from Beach Cities Cadet Squadron in San Pedro, Calif., won out over 68 other teams for the first-ever title in the new Middle School Division. The weeklong CP VI finals culminated on March 29 with the winners announced at an awards banquet at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md. “The Air Force Association is very proud of every one of our sponsors, coaches, mentors, team assistants, and most of all, all of our competitors for the enormous time and effort put into this season,” said CyberPatriot Commissioner Bernie Skoch, in AFA’s release. The Open Division and All Service Division competitors will collectively receive $50,000 in scholarships from CyberPatriot’s presenting sponsor, the Northrop Grumman Foundation. (See also CyberPatriot release and our coverage of last year’s winners.)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.