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.
Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has received a $5.9 million order from the US Navy for its KIK-11 Tactical Key Loader -- a new lightweight device that simplifies the process of loading classified key fill material into military radios and other end cryptographic units. The initial delivery order was placed against a recently signed $59.7 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract.
The Navy is acquiring the Tactical Key Loader (TKL) for use with current and future deployed tactical radios. The TKL is a rugged, easy-to-use, small-form factor, single-button programmable device that quickly loads encryption keys into radios in the field.
Encryption keys are a crucial aspect of information security in the delivery of assured communications to military personnel. The key converts a sender's "plain-text" messages into encrypted form, then decrypts them at the receiver's end so the messages can be read or heard.
"The KIK-11 is an important new device that will enable forces at the tactical edge to quickly and dynamically load encryption keys into their radios, or change them when the original keys have been compromised," said Brendan O'Connell, president, Department of Defense business, Harris RF Communications. "The KIK-11 is portable, lightweight and fast to power-on, providing military forces with faster, more reliable and more secure communications."
Harris' proven Sierra II ASIC is the cryptographic module in the KIK-11 TKL platform. The KIK-11 is a crypto-modernization compliant replacement for the legacy KYK-13 fill device. The KIK-11 supports all legacy and modern key fill interfaces and protocols, as well as a USB/RS-232 and works with existing and future KMI-compliant key distribution architectures. Harris is expecting NSA certification in early calendar year 2012 with product availability soon thereafter.
Source: Harris
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.
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.
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.
Persistent Systems has been cleared by National Security Agency (NSA) to transmit sensitive data on commercial networks. The devices are added to the NSA’s Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) component list which also includes other companies’ products providing the same security.
The release of the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) has been long promised as mid-year. It is possible it could be as early as 2 June although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to play its cards close to its chest.
Intelsat outlines how its multi-orbit SATCOM architecture is enhancing connectivity and resilience for special operations forces operating in degraded and contested environments.