Feb. 9, 2024
Release Number 20240209 - 02
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TAMPA, Fla. – In January, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) hand-selected 15 coders from across the Department of Defense to participate in a "critical mission" hackathon called SANDTRAP. This hackathon focused on data and software challenges related to countering one-way unmanned aerial systems (cUAS), a mission that is critically important to the protection of U.S. and partner forces in CENTCOM's area of responsibility. The SANDTRAP hackathon served as a special event within the BRAVO series, a DoD-wide recurring hackathon.
Over the course of the week-long hackathon, the coders built prototypes to improve speed and accuracy of cUAS processes. By hosting coders at headquarters, CENTCOM subject matter experts were able to fully integrate with the hacking teams and pave the way for capability transitions out of the hackathon.
"For mission sets as critical as countering one-way UAS attacks, U.S. Central Command is committed to leveraging every talented individual, technical solution, and innovative process available. The SANDTRAP hackathon combined all three: exceptional coders, brilliant software prototypes, and a repeatable process that can give us creative solutions in the future. The Command will continue to hold hackathon events going forward that will help us get after our most critical operational problem sets," said Schuyler Moore, Chief Technology Officer at CENTCOM.
“Our strategic approach–summarized by ‘People, Partners, and Innovation,’ is successful when we give team members a chance to bring new and creative solutions to the table,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM Commander. “The SANDTRAP hackathon provided that opportunity, and future hackathons will drive better solutions to critical missions and advance data-centric warfighting for the Command.”
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