NAVWAR opens 'secret-level' security information pipeline



NAVWAR project manager Matt O’Neil, L, studies a data pipeline project with NIWC Pacific Deputy Project Manager Johanna Flores. Photo by Rick Naystatt/U.S. Navy


July 28 (UPI) -- The Overmatch Software Armory, connecting platforms to the Pentagon's All-Domain Command and Control, is operational at a higher level, the U.S. Navy said on Wednesday.

The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, or NAVWAR, said the commercially-based, cloud-enabled element of its development, security and operations, or DevSecOps, pipeline will transform the Navy's methods of protecting access to data and applications.

The Armory has operated at IL4 and IL5 levels of secrecy in dealing with Defense Department Controlled Unclassified Material since 2018.

This, however, is the first time the Overmatch Software Armory is operating at IL6, accommodating DoD Classified Information up to the Secret-level, NAVWAR said.

The software streamlines processes, increases the speed of data delivery to the Navy, and allows continuous updating and direct delivery of newer versions of applications. The announcement came from the Naval Information Warfare Center command in San Diego.

"Previously, if we wanted to have our own classified secret software pipeline, we would have had to build an on premise solution and host it in a secure location onsite," David Jenkins, deputy for project development at the Naval Information Warfare Center's Pacific Command and Control Division, said in a press release.

It connects platforms, weapons, and sensors in a Naval Operational Architecture which integrates with Joint All-Domain Command and Control, but at a higher level of secrecy, and develops networks, infrastructure, data architectures, and analytic tools connecting every Navy domain.

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"By implementing DevSecOps we get the benefit of commercial best practices that improve the quality and security of software," said Delores Washburn, NIWC Pacific chief engineer and Overmatch infrastructure lead, said in a press release in April.

"Furthermore, it's an important catalyst for modernizing our legacy processes that tend to slow us down and we are already seeing big dividends in new modern ways to deliver capability to the fleet," Washburn said.