Babcock develops cutting-edge communications and control technology in partnership with Arqit

LONDON, Dec. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Babcock International Group (Babcock) has developed a technology with the capability of controlling single or entire fleets of vehicles in a defence environment.

Babcock demonstrated its SwarmCore technology, an advanced software system made up of multiple networks, at the UK Ministry of Defence’s BattleLab site last week in Dorset. The project was created in collaboration with Arqit, a leader in quantum-safe encryption and supported by the UK’s national innovation agency, Innovate UK.

Fundamentally, SwarmCore, which is ready to be tested in the military environment, can be used to control single or entire fleets of vehicles such as drones. It can be operated either fully autonomously or by remote human control at a safe distance from the battlefield.

One of the key benefits of SwarmCore and its integration with Arqit’s Symmetric Key Agreement Platform is its ability to receive and transmit data in a safe and secure way in a decentralised manner.

In a defence environment, this would mean if a single vehicle as part of a fleet was either hacked or attacked - the rest of the fleet could continue its mission instructions with no single asset ever being a point of failure.

With the integration of Arqit’s encryption technology, information carried on encrypted keys to and from assets will benefit from robust protection against cyber-attacks.

Babcock Chief Engineering and Technology Officer, Brad Yelland, said combining both autonomous systems with advanced software that can deal with potential cyber threats could be a game changer in the modern defence landscape.

“Disruptive technologies such as AI, machine learning and quantum - are playing an increasingly important role in the changing defence landscape and the rise in cyber threats.

“For our defence customers, developing technologies like this gives them more control in today’s complex defence environment, increased performance and security along with the ability for their teams to perform tasks remotely with solutions that are quicker and more cost effective to implement.”

Arqit Founder, Chairman and CEO, David Williams said: “This collaboration with Babcock has allowed us to deliver a ground-breaking technology that not only enhances security but can also boost operational agility, both in the present and in the foreseeable future.”

Notes to Editor:

About Babcock

Babcock is an international defence company operating in our focus countries of the UK, Australasia, Canada, France and South Africa, with exports to additional markets with potential to become focus countries. We meet our customers’ key requirements of affordability, availability, and capability by delivering engineering, support and critical systems to defence and civil markets.

About Arqit

Arqit supplies a unique Symmetric Key Agreement Platform-as-a-Service which makes the communications links of any networked device, cloud machine or data at rest secure against both current and future forms of attack on encryption – even from a quantum computer. Arqit’s Symmetric Key Agreement Platform delivers a lightweight software agent that allows devices to create encryption keys locally in partnership with any number of other devices. The keys are computationally secure and operate over zero trust networks. It can create limitless volumes of keys with any group size and refresh rate and can regulate the secure entrance and exit of a device in a group. The agent is lightweight and will thus run on the smallest of end point devices. The Product sits within a growing portfolio of granted patents but also works in a standards compliant manner which does not oblige customers to make a disruptive rip and replace of their technology. Arqit was recently awarded the Innovation in Cyber award at the UK National Cyber Awards and Cyber Security Software Company of the Year Award at the UK Cyber Security Awards.

For further information contact:

Rita Congera

Babcock International Group

Email:

Babcock team at Teneo: Tel: +44 (0)20 7353 4200 E:

Arqit:

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