Cassidian to deliver encryption technology for Eurofighter
Cassidian will deliver ‘next-generation’ encryption technology for the Eurofighter Typhoon programme in 2012, the company announced on 20 July.
The final trial of production encryption units will take place by Cassidian and BAE Systems over July and August this year, with the aim to fit units onto operational aircraft before the end of the year.
According to the company, the encryption technology has been developed by Cassidian over several years and will be entering the final validation step this summer.
‘Encryption is a critical cyber security technique that ensures mission data is securely exchanged between friendly forces,’ a company statement said.
‘The equipment – Single Point Fill – is an innovation that provides a major step forward for the management of multi-crypto platforms, potentially reducing the key loading process from one hour to less than one minute on a daily basis.’
The Eurofighter Typhoon will be the first aircraft to be equipped with the encryption technology developed by Cassidian with support from Raytheon Systems Ltd. The integration of Single Point Fill units onto aircraft is expected to commence on the UK fleet this year.
Cassidian noted that modern military aircraft require multiple secure communications systems to enable them to operate in a network centric environment; including radio, IFF, GPS and data links. Each of these systems typically uses a specific cryptographic protection device that must be supplied with key variables and other critical configuration data in a highly secure manner.
Previously this required the specific information for such equipment to be loaded individually using potentially different data input devices.
‘This has made encryption management a time consuming and labour intensive task, often requiring erasure and re-keying between missions when aircraft are powered down.
‘Single Point Fill has been designed to manage the security of data input fill to these multiple communication systems on board the aircraft using one secure single point.’
More from Digital Battlespace
-
![AUSA 2025: Persistent Systems to complete its largest order by year’s end]()
AUSA 2025: Persistent Systems to complete its largest order by year’s end
Persistent Systems received its largest ever single order for its MPU5 devices and other systems earlier this month and has already delivered the 50 units to the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
-
![Aselsan brings in dozens of companies and systems under the Steel Dome umbrella]()
Aselsan brings in dozens of companies and systems under the Steel Dome umbrella
Turkey has joined the family of countries attempting to establish a multilayered air defence system with government approval in August 2024 for the effort landed by Aselsan. Dubbed Steel Dome, the programme joins Israel’s Iron Dome, the US Golden Dome, India’s Mission Sudarshan Chakra and South Korea’s low-altitude missile defence system.
-
![DSEI 2025: MARSS unveils new agnostic multidomain C4 system]()
DSEI 2025: MARSS unveils new agnostic multidomain C4 system
MARSS’ NiDAR system has been deployed using sensors from static platforms to provide detection and protection for static sights, such as critical infrastructure, ports and military bases.
-
![Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training]()
Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
-
![EID to unveil new vehicle communication system at DSEI]()
EID to unveil new vehicle communication system at DSEI
The Portuguese company’s naval communications system is in service across more than a dozen countries. It has turned to its home nation for support in developing a new vehicle based C2 system.
-
![Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker]()
Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker
The Vision4ce Deep Embedded Feature Tracking (DEFT) technology software is designed to process video and images by blending traditional computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to present actionable information from complex environments.
