Secure Software and Data Systems for Defence Aviation

What does defence aviation need from software partners?

Defence aviation shares civil aviation's data — airspace structures, navigation databases, operational notices, and surrounding traffic — but operates under far stricter constraints on security, availability, and confidentiality. Systems may need to run in isolated environments, integrate with classified and unclassified sources separately, and keep working when external feeds are unavailable. Partners need both aviation-data depth and engineering discipline.

What can AeroCraft build for defence aviation?

• Secure data architectures with strict separation, least-privilege access, and full audit trails
• Airspace situational awareness combining ADS-B traffic, NOTAMs, and aeronautical data
• Tooling built on AIXM aeronautical information and ARINC 424 navigation records
• Mission-planning support tools and operational dashboards
• Systems designed to run on-premise or in air-gapped environments, with no dependency on public cloud services

How do you approach security and confidentiality?

Security is part of the architecture from the first design session, not a review at the end. That means threat modelling, minimal external dependencies, reproducible builds, secrets management, encrypted storage and transport, and logging designed for audit. Confidentiality terms are set per engagement, and AeroCraft does not publicise defence work or name clients without explicit permission.

What aviation data expertise does AeroCraft bring?

Our engineers work daily with the same standards defence aviation relies on: ADS-B for surveillance data, NOTAM parsing for operational notices, AIXM for aeronautical information exchange, and ARINC 424 for navigation databases. Our production platforms — including Skyinfo's 24/7 coverage of 7,883 airports — are built on that foundation. The same disciplines that keep those systems accurate and available transfer directly to defence requirements.

See also: Enterprise data architecture · Cloud reliability & integration

How do civil aviation data sources support defence operations?

Defence aviation shares airspace with civil traffic, so civil data sources are part of the operational picture. ADS-B broadcasts reveal the position and movement of cooperative civil aircraft around training areas, bases, and corridors. NOTAMs describe airspace restrictions, navigation aid outages, and temporary hazards that affect planning. AIXM datasets and ARINC 424 navigation records define the airspace structures, routes, and procedures that missions have to respect or interact with.

Bringing these sources together in one validated model gives planners a coherent picture of the environment they will operate in, rather than several separate tools that must be cross-checked by hand. AeroCraft builds the ingestion, decoding, and validation layers for these formats, then delivers the result into the environment and tools a defence organisation already uses.

Where defence organisations need to share data with civil partners, such as air navigation service providers or airport operators, we design the interfaces so that only approved information crosses the boundary, with every exchange logged. Engagements can be structured as discrete deliverables with clear acceptance criteria, which suits programmes where requirements, security reviews, and approvals proceed in stages. Documentation is written to the standard needed for independent assessment and long-term support by in-house teams or other contractors.