FX.co ★ BAE Systems Gets $6 Mln Contract From Department Of Defense For Aid In Software Development

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has granted a $6 million contract to BAE Systems' FAST Labs research and development division as part of the Pipelined Reasoning of Verifiers Enabling Robust Systems (PROVERS) initiative.

The PROVERS initiative aims to make formal methods accessible to non-experts, while minimizing any disruptions to their current processes and performance.

"Software engineering practices are constantly evolving for systems reliant on software, and assurance techniques must evolve in tandem to ensure the correctness and security of these systems," stated Daniel Mitchell, the technical manager at BAE Systems' FAST Labs R&D division. "With the PROVERS initiative, proof engineering is set to enhance levels of assurance—ensuring that critical software systems for the Department of Defense remain devoid of specific glitches and security vulnerabilities."

Per the contract terms, BAE Systems will present a Department of Defense (DoD)-relevant system that demonstrates how formal methods can be integrated into the development and certification processes, verifying their correctness.

BAE Systems' software engineers will also offer insights to developers on making formal methods applicable and accessible to DoD systems.