Protecting Unmanned Privacy

Lockheed Martin Demonstrates Novel Cyber UAV Protection

The Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories successfully demonstrated a prototype that provides cyber protection to Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) at the Northern Plains UAS Test Site.

Cyber Vulnerability of Aviation Systems

Cyber protection of aviation systems requires a broad range of capabilities to guard against potentially catastrophic attacks. Vulnerable aviation systems range from pilot notification systems to weather, air traffic control and the aircraft itself. As aviation systems continue to grow increasingly more complex and networked, opportunities for malicious actors similarly increase. Cyber protection systems that rely on software monitoring as the last line of defense will find themselves vulnerable to attack.

Lockheed Martin’s Solution

The PUP team with two unmanned aircraft systems at the Northern Plains UAS Test Site

PUP team preparing for the FAA demonstration

One of the two unmanned aircraft systems used during the demonstration

The Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories successfully demonstrated a prototype for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that provides cyber protection to Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) at the Northern Plains UAS Test Site under the Protecting Unmanned Privacy (PUP) program. Lockheed Martin’s cyber capability focuses on the protection of a system at the hardware level, relying on monitoring patterns to catch an attack before it happens, rather than monitoring software execution to stop or isolate an attack once it has occurred.

Lockheed Martin flew an autonomous swarm of aircraft that incorporated an onboard dispatch system, allowing the aircraft to talk to each other and the ground dispatch system. The team demonstrated the ability to protect aircraft from a cyber-attack with hardware monitoring that identified exploit patterns and halting instructions before the system was affected.

This novel protection method results in negligible impact to the processor. This capability can also implement protection against both classes of weaknesses and specific, emergent weakness, without changing a single line of software.

Katie Gilmore

Lockheed Martin Program Manager

Looking Forward

As aircraft and aviation systems become increasingly networked and the operator moves farther to the edge of the loop, cyber systems must continue to evolve in novel ways. Lockheed Martin’s hardware-based cyber protection methods will support both manned and unmanned aviation as cyber needs become increasingly complex.

Here’s more background on how we’re ushering in a new era of autonomous All-Domain mission capability.

About the Northern Plains UAS Test Site

The Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS) is one of seven Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test sites in the nation. The mission of the NPUASTS is to collaborate with FAA and industry partners to develop systems, rules, and procedures to safely integrate unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System without negatively impacting existing general or commercial aviation.

For More Information

Please contact Katie Gilmore at: katrina.a.gilmore@lmco.com

View Similar Stories

More About ATL

Join the ATL Team

Join our Team ___

We're engineering a better tomorrow.

Your individual skills play a critical role in changing the way the world works and helping us develop products that make it a safer place to achieve your goals. Our teams are made up of diverse employees from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, working together to tackle complex challenges and push the boundaries of innovation.

Explore our skill areas to find the right opportunity for you.

View all career areas