FOLEY — Members of Foley High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC will compete again this year in a cyber defense challenge that hopes to bring the next generation of cyber defenders to the forefront.

CyberPatriot IV is a unique national cyber security competition produced by the Air Force Association (AFA), and retired Lt. Col. Lawrence Karl, senior aerospace science instructor at FHS, said five Junior ROTC students and five alternates at FHS will enter the competition again this year. CyberPatriot III, with Northrop Grumman as the presenting sponsor, had more than 660 teams competing last year.

“We have a good group of kids, and ROTC is happy to participate in this competition,” said Karl, who has been at FHS as head of Junior ROTC for 19 years.

“The kids really enjoy the competition, and you don’t have to be a computer nerd to participate.”

According to a press release issued on the competition, CyberPatriot teaches students how to protect vital national security systems — defense, banking, commerce, transportation and the like — while providing “hands-on learning about technology, emphasizing teamwork and leadership, and exercising critical-thinking skills.”

FHS’s CyberPatriot team will undergo online preliminary rounds in the weeks ahead with an eye to the national championship competition to be held in March 2012 in Washington, D.C. Foley’s team is one of more than 500 to register for the competition to date.

“Headquarters (Maxwell Air Force Base) will pay for a second team of non-ROTC students to compete,” Karl said, noting that Junior ROTC members compete in the All Service Division and other students in the Open Division.

As Karl explains it, in each competition round, student teams are provided virtual machines with what Karl describes as “vulnerable abilities.” Given a set amount of time, teams must find these vulnerabilities or weaknesses and clean them up. Teams that find the most weaknesses move on to the next round.

Volunteers and mentors are welcome to help prepare the FHS team for the competition, Karl said. Anyone interested in helping out can call Junior ROTC at 251-943-8237.