Hancomwith, a subsidiary of Hancom Group, announced on the 20th that it has been selected as a contractor for the 'Global Defense Industry Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Fostering Project' by the Defense Technology Promotion Agency.
The 'Global Defense Industry Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Fostering Project' is a program initiated by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Defense Technology Promotion Agency to discover promising small and medium-sized enterprises in the defense industry and provide comprehensive support from research and development to marketing. Through this project, Hancomwith will promote the development of weapons systems that apply quantum-resistant encryption technology and work to enhance its competitiveness in the domestic and international drone security markets.
Hancomwith will collaborate with its co-developer, Assetta, to carry out a research and development project focused on quantum-resistant encryption-based technology and products (project title: Development of a heterogeneous and multi-control battlefield surveillance system for integrated combat systems with and without personnel) over the next two years. In this project, Hancomwith will develop a lightweight quantum-resistant encryption module for embedded systems and will be responsible for developing the unmanned vehicle control and operation system and ground control equipment (GCS) that incorporate this module. Assetta plans to implement unmanned vehicles (VTOL) based on this.
In particular, Hancomwith's lightweight encryption module will be developed based on its proven encryption module 'SecureCrypto.' This module will apply the quantum-resistant encryption algorithms standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Korean quantum-resistant encryption (KpqC) algorithm, with plans to enhance technical capabilities through encryption module verification.
Currently, communication between unmanned vehicle systems and ground control equipment (GCS) uses existing public key-based encryption algorithms. However, with the advancement of quantum computing, concerns have been raised about the potential invalidation of existing encryption systems, indicating that the proactive introduction of quantum-resistant encryption technology will be necessary in critical fields such as defense that require long-term data protection.
CEO Song Sang-yeop noted, "Through this project, we want to create the first case of applying quantum-resistant encryption to integrated combat systems with and without personnel," and added, "Based on successful project execution, we expect to achieve meaningful results not only in the domestic market but also in the global market."