Airbus Cybersecurity SAS, a division of the European defence contractor, has landed a 25-year agreement with France's defence procurement authority (DGA) to engineer and maintain PARACOM gateways. These systems will serve as secure intermediaries, enabling the Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans' Affairs to transfer information between networks operating at varying levels of secrecy and sensitivity.

Military organisations typically maintain separate networks for classified and unclassified data, yet operational requirements demand that information flow between these isolated systems. The PARACOM gateways will function as controlled checkpoints, permitting such exchanges while filtering threats and maintaining security boundaries. The contract encompasses the full lifecycle: design, engineering, manufacturing, and ongoing support throughout the agreement's duration. Airbus has not released financial terms.

The gateways will receive approval for handling data classified as "secret" down to "unclassified" levels, with deployment planned across military commands, ministry offices, and operational units. Rather than a single design, the solution comes in multiple configurations tailored to different environments: a rack-based system for server facilities, a portable unit for field command centres, and specialised variants for challenging operational scenarios.

Airbus anticipates deploying these gateways across a broad spectrum of military platforms and assets, including naval vessels, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft, unmanned systems, and ground-based armoured and transport vehicles.

The company attributes the emphasis on data filtering to the expanding role of digital systems in modern warfare and the security risks accompanying this transformation. According to François Lombard, director of connected intelligence at Airbus Defense and Space, "This gateway strengthens the digital shield the French Armed Forces rely on to execute their missions."

Airbus has a track record in this domain, having supplied comparable gateway technology to France's ground forces since 2013. In the cybersecurity sector, a commitment spanning twenty-five years represents a substantial timeframe—long enough that contemporary threat landscapes may appear antiquated by the contract's conclusion.

Source: The Next Web