US Air Force Seeks Encryption Devices to Secure Field Operations

Apr 16, 2014 16:05 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

The US Air Force released an RFP for the development and production of “mini crypto” devices that meet both NSA approval and Size, Weight, and Power constraints in line with combat use. They intend to handle unclassified and Secret data, for devices that may be lost during operations that may be conducted with other services and allied countries.
This follows an industry day that took place in September last year. Mini Crypto is meant to be a multi-platform solution to shortfalls identified in the past, such as the interception by insurgents of UAV video feeds. Back during the industry day, the Air Force sized their need at 10,000 devices for around $1K apiece, and the RFP’s upper range indeed asks for quotes for 10,000 or more devices.

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Categories: Alliances, Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - Other, IT - Cyber-Security, RFPs, Russia, USA