Paris/France, 20 June 2023 – HENSOLDT wins call for projects for the development of new post-quantum cryptography (PQC) technology that will complement its X7 solution.
The General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI), under the authority of the French Prime Minister, has awarded HENSOLDT France SAS the contract for a post-quantum cryptography project. The contact comes from within the framework of the France 2030 national quantum strategy and is based on the company’s more than thirty years of experience in ensuring the cybersecurity of military airborne tactical data links.
With its X7-PQC project, HENSOLDT intends to develop ground-breaking post-quantum technology capable of repelling cyberattacks that involve the use of quantum computers. This technology will allow France to ensure its digital supremacy in securing tactical data links as well as military and civilian platforms.
During the term of the R&D programme, the key elements of the X7 technology will be analysed within the context of a CIFRE dissertation and three degree-level final year projects until 2026.
HENSOLDT France has decided to develop the technology in partnership with the company SECURE-IC and both the XLIM and TELECOM PARIS research laboratories.
Given its cryptography experience in the defence arena, HENSOLDT will lead the consortium and develop a PQC system based on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). SECURE-IC, with its comprehensive security knowledge in the civilian sector, will design a PQC signature algorithm with an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). XLIM will develop new, superior, code-based signature and encryption algorithms. To ensure a high degree of security, TELECOM PARIS will test the implementation of these FPGA-based PQC algorithms using side-channel attacks.
With a view to further technological developments, the developed devices will be flexible and reconfigurable to allow for the execution of even more complex algorithms in the future.
Within the framework of this programme, HENSOLDT France intends to produce new, innovative post-quantum encryption technology under the X7-PQC brand name. This will be used to encrypt sensitive data from sensors, tactical data links and more and also store data from classified military operations. The system will be compatible with all land, air and sea platforms that can be equipped with the X7 solution – even drones, thanks to its compact dimensions.
“We want to devise another technological element for our existing X7 solution by implementing functions that can keep pace with the development of quantum computers. These functions will then enable us to offer a next-generation, French post-quantum cryptography solution at both national and international level,” explained Philippe Guibourg, Managing Director of HENSOLDT France.
With the programme, which falls within the framework of the France 2030 investment plan, HENSOLDT France will already transition to post-quantum technology before 2030, a step recommended by various standardisation bodies such as the French National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The company will position itself as a leading actor in airborne cybersecurity and play an active role in defining future encryption standards.
About HENSOLDT
HENSOLDT is a leading company in the European defence industry with global reach. Headquartered in Taufkirchen near Munich, Germany, the company develops overall sensor solutions for defence and security applications. As a technology leader, HENSOLDT drives the development of defence electronics and optronics and is continuously expanding its portfolio based on innovative approaches to data management, robotics and cybersecurity. With more than 6,500 employees, HENSOLDT generated revenues of 1.7 billion euros in 2022. HENSOLDT is listed in the MDAX on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
www.hensoldt.net
About HENSOLDT France
HENSOLDT France is part of the HENSOLDT Group and is a company of the French defence technological and industrial base (BITD). As an innovative provider of overall electronic solutions for defence and critical civilian systems, HENSOLDT France SAS develops, installs and maintains solutions for secure broadband data links that are particularly used for missiles, drones and mission aircraft as well as cybersecurity solutions (airborne encryption solutions) and various systems for friend-or-foe identification (e.g. interrogators and test equipment) and counter-UAV applications.
Press contact
Emilie GESSEN
Tel.: +33 (0)6 34 08 63 94
emilie.gessen@hensoldt.fr
