Employability of blockchain technology in defence applications

Abstract

Military operations enabled using networks involves generation, transmission, collection and analysis of mission critical data to enable better decision making capabilities to commanders at all levels to achieve the objectives. This data is generated by variety of heterogeneous elements like humans and equipment in the battlefield. It is of utmost importance to ensure high level of integrity, confidentiality and availability of this data in such an environment and to ensure its sustainability in hostile environments. This paper presents scope and detailed analysis of the idea of utilizing Blockchain technology as a viable solution for ensuring integrity and provenance of data to suit military operations using networks and maintaining sustainability of these networks. The core concepts of Blockchain are presented in a comprehensive manner along with its variations. Military operations enabled using networks are modeled using Network Enabled Military Operations (NEMO) model. The viable framework and architecture for incorporating Blockchain technology to suit security requirements has been analyzed using three case studies relevant in today's scenario.