Raytheon to fix software problems in Air Force cyber security and cryptographic system

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, 8 March 2016. Information security experts at Raytheon Co. are fixing obsolescence and software problems in a cryptographic and cyber security system the U.S. military uses to transmit voice and data traffic securely.

Officials of the Cryptologic and Cyber Systems Division of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Joint-Base San Antonio, Texas, announced a $7.7 million contract Friday to the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems Division in Fort Wayne, Ind., to correct problems in the VINSON/ANDVT Cryptographic Modernization (VACM) program.

VACM are small, lightweight, power-efficient devices that the U.S. military uses to transmit voice and data traffic securely. These devices are portable and can be used in a variety of airborne, land and maritime combat situations, Raytheon officials say.

The Air Force is asking Raytheon to implement hardware changes related to design issues and parts obsolescence, as well as software deficiencies identified during testing, Air Force officials announced in the contract description.

Related: Crypto modernization transforms military communications

In 2011 Raytheon won a $31.1 million contract to upgrade the shoebox-shaped VACM devices. The 2011 contract asked Raytheon to replace stand-alone cryptographic units with affordable, modern products that use data-scrambling algorithms to encrypt information on one end and then decrypt it on the other.

VACM is one of the Air Force Cryptologic Systems Division's largest programs, Raytheon officials said in a 2011 news announcement. On the contract announced Friday Raytheon will do the work in Fort Wayne, Ind., and should be finished by March 2017.

For more information contact Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.wpafb.af.mil/aflcmc.