Blockchain technology is currently being looked into by the United States Navy Naval air systems command (NAVAIR) for tracking aviation parts throughout its lifecycle. For NAVAIR, there is a big need to change the way it tracks the lineage of parts. Changing this fundamental step towards slashing the high costs it takes to operate military aircraft. As it is now, the process of tracking down the lineage of aircraft parts involves parts of a scheduled removal component card for recording information on aviation parts before manually entering the information into a database.
The US navy has penned a deal dubbed the “cooperative research and development agreement” with manufacturing companies, (ITAMCO) which is based in Indiana. This deal has been put in place in order for NAVAIR to gain access to cutting-edge chain code as well as innovative protocols that can recall large data sets swiftly and securely. ITAMCO has gotten busy and is one of the originators of SIMBA chain, a blockchain system which is really a service platform that allows for tracking secure messages using the blockchain for the United States military.
According to the set agreement, ITAMCO will not only participate in deep research that will lead to the development of cutting-edge technology but will also work closely with the Navy in helping them understand how to leverage blockchain technology for their day to day operations. in this newly formed mutual and symbiotic relationship, the Navy will learn the inner working and beauty of distributed ledger technology while ITAMCO will get to understand how the US Navy operates in order for them to come up with a conceptual architecture for what a clear and connected supply chain could look like in the near future when it is fully developed.
Developing this platform will be by no means an easy task. One of the major challenges to be faced here is information assurance and accreditation for the decentralized information system which will replace the current centrally controlled database architecture. The issue of cybersecurity as the connection of all the nodes supporting the supply chain increases the chances of the vulnerability of the system. NAVAIR is bringing in the experts early in order to create a conceptual architecture in order to understand risks and rewards that come with a connected distributed system.
The fleet support system at the US Navy believes that blockchain technology can assist the naval air mission to turn more of an eye towards safety and at better costs. The ITAMCO- Navy partnership excited George Blackwood, a logistics management specialist at the Navy, who expressed delight with working at ITAMCO in order to improve visibility, data transparency and traceability.
