The US Space Force has awarded an extension to its contract with General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) for a cloud-based classified environment for industry collaborations.
The extension will enable more stakeholders to get involved and will open the project up to public cloud service providers, reports DefenseScoop.
Known as Project Enigma, GDIT was awarded $18 million to develop the prototype digital infrastructure to allow the Space Systems Command (SSC) to collaborate with different stakeholders in a cloud-based shared network.
Travis Dawson, GDIT's senior director for Project Enigma told DefenseScoop said: "This resulting digital services ecosystem will further drive resilient, secure information-sharing to anyone, anywhere, at any time.”
“Working in a government setting and having the ability to sit at one device and do classified and unclassified work on the same device is monumental,” Dawson added. “Rather than having to leave your device and go to a secure facility, login with some classified credentials, etc., you can do that from one device.”
The expansion of Project Enigma will see GDIT add more 'mission partners' and commercial cloud service providers to the platform, making it a classified multi-cloud environment. Dawson declined to name the cloud providers, though said that they are approved by the Defense Department’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract vehicle.
Currently under the JWCC are Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, and Google.
The Space Force has previously awarded Microsoft a contract to develop a cloud-based space simulation dubbed the Integrated, Immersive, Intelligent Environment. This was an augmented reality space simulation constructed on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing infrastructure, and viewable via the Microsoft HoloLens headsets.
In April 2024, the Space Force's Space Systems Command (SSC) was seeking to issue a production contract for a ground-based system that provides data-transfer-as-a-service. That contract was valued at $42.1 million, and set to go to Sev1Tech.
