Mercury Systems has partnered with Tortuga Logic, a cybersecurity company specializing in hardware security, to provide secure processing subsystems for The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Guaranteed Architecture for Physical Security (GAPS) program, Tortuga announced on Wednesday. 

"Mercury Systems is developing hardware and software architectures for DARPA with physically provable guarantees to isolate high-risk transactions," said Scott Orton, vice president and general manager of Mercury's Trusted Mission Solutions group. 

Tortuga Logic and Mercury Systems will provide secure processing subsystems, which are used in numerous Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Radar, Electronic Warfare (EW) and other mission-critical applications. 

The integration of Radix-S will help DARPA GAPS detect and prevent security vulnerabilities in next-generation  application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and System-on-Chip (SoC) designs.

"As GAPS aims to develop hardware security and software architectures with provable security interfaces, Tortuga Logic's Radix security verification solution helps us effectively deliver the security guarantees we need to be successful in this program," Orton continued.

Additionally, Mercury Systems’ technology and analysis will help DARPA address security issues before the device is manufactured, saving on redesign costs and system failure due to an attack. 

"Mercury's solutions power a wide variety of critical defense and intelligence programs that have the highest standards for security," said Jason Oberg, CEO of Tortuga Logic. "Our collaboration with Mercury helps us develop the best-in-class security offerings for DARPA's GAPS program and other future programs."

The partnership recently followed the appointment of Orlando Carvalho, a 38-year veteran of Lockheed Martin, who has joined the board of directors Mercury Systems, announced on Tuesday.

“Orlando has extraordinary experience from his many years in senior executive roles across numerous major defense programs," said Mark Aslett, president and CEO of Mercury Systems.

He previously served EVP and general manager of the F-35 program. Prior to F-35 program leadership, he led company units that worked on mission systems, sensors and surface-sea based ballistic missile defense systems.

About Mercury Systems

Mercury Systems is the leader in making trusted, secure mission-critical technologies profoundly more accessible to the aerospace and defense industries. Optimized for customer and mission success, our innovative solutions power more than 300 critical aerospace and defense programs. 

Headquartered in Andover, Mass., and with manufacturing and design facilities around the world, Mercury specializes in engineering, adapting and manufacturing new solutions purpose-built to meet the industry's current and emerging high-tech needs. Our employees are committed to Innovation that Matters®.

Lockheed Martin has shipped its third JCSAT-17 satellite to French Guiana for launch on an Ariane V rocket, the company announced on Wednesday. The satellite will provide flexible mobile communication services to Japan and the surrounding region.

“Following two successful launches of LM 2100 commercial communications satellites, Lockheed Martin is proud to deliver JCSAT-17 to SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (SJC), which will add a tremendous amount of new connectivity for users in Japan,” said Guy Beutelschies, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Communication Satellite Solutions.

The JCSAT-17 is the first Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) communications satellite. The new MMS has been developed from the modernized LM 2100 and includes 26 innovations that make the satellite more powerful, flexible and versatile in orbit.

The LM 2100 base has been optimized for high-power missions. The base utilizes the strong history of more than 100 A2100 spacecrafts. The platform has been enhanced through significant investments to deliver more power and flexibility at a lower cost and faster time to market.

Lockheed Martin has added a reprogrammable mission processor to the LM 2100 base, which will add flexibility as mission needs change. The satellite has incorporated s-band and C-band transponders and an 18m mesh reflector, assuring continuous communication during high-volume events.

The satellite also features robust Ku-band connectivity. JCSAT-17 is the eighth satellite built by Lockheed Martin for SJC, beginning with NSAT-110, JCSAT-9 through JCSAT-13 and JCSAT-110R. The company has also begun to manufacture an additional 5 modernized LM 2100 based satellites for commercial and government customers.

“This satellite will help grow Japan’s advanced economy by adding new options for mobility, bandwidth where it’s needed, and reliable connections,” Beutelschies concluded.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division has received its tenth AN/AQS-20C minehunting sonar system from Raytheon, the company announced on Wednesday. The can start moving towards initial operating capacity after having completed developmental testing in Feb. 2019.

The AN/AQS-20C system is an advanced minehunting sonar system for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mine countermeasure mission (MCM) package equipped with four distinct imaging sonars, signal processing and computer algorithms to provide real-time, computer-aided detection and classification against the full spectrum of threat mines.

It does this by automatic localization mine-like objects and provides the operator with a visual image and a contact data list. The computer processing, signal processing and portable size of the AN/AQS-20C reduces the amount of time required to search an area while significantly increasing search-rate agility.

“AQS-20C is capable of enabling true single-pass, minehunting when paired with the Barracuda mine neutralizer,” said Wade Knudson, senior director of Raytheon’s Undersea Warfare Systems business division.

The system is platform agnostic, capable of integration onto various tow vehicles and a key element in single sortie detect-to-engage capability, which combines the search-detect-identify and neutralize elements of an MCM mission on a single platform.

Further integration onto MCM Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) is scheduled for early 2020. It will be equipped aboard  LCS vessels upon successful integration.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2018 sales of $27 billion and 67,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 97 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.