Guardtime Federal’s Blockchain solutions are to enter the US defense sector as details emerge of a partnership with Lockheed Martin.

Maryland-based Lockheed in so doing will become the first US defense contractor to actively incorporate Blockchain into its strategy, EconoTimes reports.

“Guardtime Federal is excited about collaborating with such a high-quality team for delivering capabilities to Lockheed Martin with whom we share a common vision regarding cyber and software development challenges," the publication quotes Guardtime Federal president David Hamilton as saying.

Specific use cases in line for Blockchain treatment include streamlining and risk assessment of software development and supply chain.

The formal step is perhaps the most symbolic in a two-year partnership between the two companies which has seen various joint activities within the cyber security field.

In September last year, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded a $1.8 mln contract jointly to Guardtime and Galois, demonstrating an ongoing interest in Blockchain on the part of the US government sector.

“If significant portions of the Department of Defense back office infrastructure can be decentralized, smart documents and contracts can be instantly and securely sent and received,” DARPA said at the time, “thereby reducing exposure to hackers and reducing needless delays in DoD back office correspondence.”

Guardtime has also been involved in international Blockchain initiatives, for example, Estonia’s medical records scheme.

"These new cyber security approaches will enhance data integrity, speed problem discovery and mitigation, and reduce the volume of regression testing, which results in reduced schedule risk," Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Engineering and Technology vice president Ron Bessire added.