Lockheed Martin, Microsoft milestone cloud tech partnership for US DoD

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Nov 11:38

Lockheed Martin and Microsoft announce a milestone strategic partnership to expand technology integration for the US Department of Defense.

A game-changing agreement to deploy cutting-edge technology for the US DoD (Lockheed Martin)

Lockheed Martin and Microsoft announce a milestone agreement between the two American companies toward a deeper strategic partnership in developing and deploying the next generation of computing technology for the US Department of Defense.

According to a statement released on November 16, the partnership between the two companies and the DoD will cover four vital areas.

The agreement entails that Lockheed Martin will become the first non-governmental entity to get access and operate within the Microsoft Azure Government Secret Cloud.

“Our national security leaders need an unassailable information advantage, which is why we’re bringing the power of the hyper scale cloud to accelerate their national security missions," stated Jason Zander, the executive VP for the Strategic Missions and Technologies at Microsoft.

The statement also announced that the companies agreed on a two-year collaborative research and development to advance the machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities of the Defense Department.

"We are creating faster, safer, and more affordable 21st Century Security solutions that infuse immersive experiences and other advanced commercial technologies into the most capable defense systems," Zander added.

The new collaboration also covers the advancing of the security and capabilities of the 5G (5G.MIL®) network connectivity and technology to be deployed by the defense department. In addition, Microsoft will provide Lockheed Martin with the required technology and assistance to boost its digital transformation to support the company's journey in reaching cutting-edge defense tech.

The Chief Information Officer at Lockheed Marti and Senior Vice President of the company's Enterprise Business and Digital Transformation division, Yvonne Hodge, said both companies following this agreement would mark a "blazing a new path in classified cloud, artificial intelligence, and 5G.MIL® capabilities for the Department of Defense. We are creating faster, safer, and more affordable 21st Century Security solutions that infuse immersive experiences and other advanced commercial technologies into the most capable defense systems."

"We are confident this unrivaled combination of capabilities will help keep our customers ahead of new threats and challenges,” she added.

Zander noted that "in partnership with Lockheed Martin, we’re demonstrating how the defense industrial base can bring classified data into the cloud securely while bringing advanced 5G connectivity, critical data processing and analysis, and immersive experiences to the edge to support decision-making where it’s needed, when it’s needed."

"Lockheed Martin is a valued partner in this effort, and we’ll continue to innovate and explore the art of the possible to support national security," Zander said.