As a follow-on to specialized mission support testing in 2015, Lockheed Martin has contracted Guardtime Federal as a key supplier to integrate a variety of cyber-related elements into systems engineering processes, supply chain risk management and software development efforts.
Since 2015, Lockheed Martin and Guardtime Federal have conducted demonstrations of data integrity technologies to address the threat of manipulation in networked and weapon system embedded cyber physical systems. The two companies have been engaged in on-going assessments to address the continued evolution of cyber-focused threats across the entire development and fielding lifecycle.
With this effort, Lockheed Martin becomes the first U.S. defense contractor to incorporate blockchain technology into its developmental processes, enabling more efficient and assured offerings to the federal government. Using Guardtime Federal's Black Lantern appliances and the nationally distributed Guardtime Federal Core blockchain infrastructure, Lockheed Martin plans to realize more efficient and secure software development and supply chain risk management.
To realize the next leap forward, Guardtime Federal crafted a consortium of some of the most advanced cyber-centric small businesses in the field: Galois, ForAllSecure and Trail of Bits. Collectively this consortium offers a wealth of experience in formal methods, vulnerability analysis, and automated vulnerability discovery and patching. All consortium participants are performers on the most advanced DARPA cyber-focused developments. ForAllSecure was the first place winner of the recent DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge.
"Guardtime Federal is excited about collaborating with such a high quality team for delivering capabilities to Lockheed Martin with whom we share a common vision regarding cyber and software development challenges," said David Hamilton, president of Guardtime Federal.
Lockheed Martin and Guardtime Federal are maturing a concept referred to as Cyber Aware Systems Engineering. Lockheed Martin is exploring new, non-traditional approaches, technologies, and processes to design cyber security into its business.
"These new cyber security approaches will enhance data integrity, speed problem discovery and mitigation, and reduce the volume of regression testing, which results in reduced schedule risk," said Ron Bessire, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics' Engineering and Technology vice president. "The faster our developers can discover issues, the faster we can deliver."
Lockheed Martin regularly partners with small businesses to augment its robust cyber capabilities. This new aerospace collaboration between a prime and a small business cyber consortium not only meets Department of Defense guidelines for small businesses set-aside, it also leverages the innovative dynamic nature of small, agile industry partners in the tradition of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® model. By experimenting now and learning to incorporate these new approaches, Lockheed Martin anticipates improved performance in future modernization of existing programs as well as discriminating advantage on emerging competitions.