07/15/2020
Asymmetric Technologies, LLC, a Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business in Columbus, Ohio, announced today that is has been awarded two new contracts totaling $3.75M for further development of its IronClad Secure Flight Controller (SFC) technology. The IronClad SFC is an American-made, open-architecture flight controller for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that is built from the ground up with embedded cybersecurity features. Initial development, testing and red-teaming of the IronClad was funded by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through its Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP).
First, the US Air Force and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) jointly funded Asymmetric for a Phase 2 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award for $2.25M to integrate the IronClad SFC into three operational USSOCOM UAS platforms. “The Air Force and SOCOM want to move away from expensive, proprietary flight control solutions that are non-interoperable and have no cybersecurity features, and these IronClad integrations provide a demonstration and path forward towards that goal” said Rob Hettler, Asymmetric’s Director of Applied Development and program manager for IronClad SFC efforts. The 20-month program will culminate with SOCOM users providing operational flight assessments of each platform, a cybersecurity red team by the Government and delivery of multiple integration kits for each aircraft.
Asymmetric also was awarded $1.5M from the Ohio Federal Research Network (OFRN) Sustaining Ohio Aeronautical Readiness and Innovation Next Generation (SOARING) initiative. The project, sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and titled “Resilient and Secure UAS Flight Control”, aims to add three specific enhancements to the IronClad framework: a sensor and platform-agnostic sense and avoid autonomy suite (led by Ohio University), a fault-tolerant avionics controller capability (led by The Ohio State University’s Advanced Aerospace Laboratory), and integration of Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) modules for enhanced cybersecurity (led by The Ohio State University Physics Department). At the conclusion of the 18-month project, an IronClad SFC with the three new capabilities will be integrated onto Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems’ Condor eXtended Endurance & Payload (XEP) UAS platform and demonstrated at the National Center for Medical Readiness (aka, “Calamityville”) tactical training site in Fairborn, Ohio. “The successful addition of these capabilities to IronClad SFC will further its appeal to both the military and commercial UAS markets and help drive advanced technology job growth in Ohio” said Mr. Hettler.
As a result of the development funding from DHS, the Air Force, USSOCOM and OFRN, Asymmetric has entered commercialization discussions with several UAS manufacturers for integration of the IronClad SFC into existing or upcoming aircraft, and the IronClad will be offered as a standalone flight control solution through several trusted distribution outlets later in 2020. For additional information on the IronClad system or the awards described above, please contact Rob Hettler at Asymmetric Technologies,, [email protected].
www.asymmetric.com/ironclad
