Viasat, USAF complete Mini Crypto PPR
Viasat has completed a production readiness review (PPR) of the Mini Crypto programme, for the development of an embeddable cryptographic module for military handheld devices and unmanned systems that communicate classified and sensitive data, the company announced on 6 December.
ViaSat and the US Air Force will now move into low-rate initial production of the module.
The Mini Crypto module is designed to accelerate the development of small form factor unmanned military platforms that require secure connections to classified networks. It will support secure data dissemination to government personnel, increase protection and support for securing command and control links critical to weaponised platforms, and provide a protected backhaul link for classified data to multiple US government agencies.
Mini Crypto is a self-contained crypto engine that does not require manual key input since it uses certificate-based self-generated keys. The module brings ease-of-use to the user through a battery-free, small physical footprint that eliminates the tracking/retrieval burden associated with traditional Type 1 crypto.
The module is based on Viasat’s programmable and embeddable PSIAM cryptographic technology. Advantages of the module include low size, weight, and power, which is critical for unmanned systems requiring a small form factor solution; and it is fully programmable, enabling software to be upgradeable even after deployment and low cost.
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