# Defense Unicorns > Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 that builds open-source, airgap-native software for secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission applications across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments for national security missions. Valued at over $1 billion after a $136M Series B led by Bain Capital, Defense Unicorns has seen 300% year-over-year adoption growth in military systems. ## Company Overview Defense Unicorns was founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter (CEO), Jeff McCoy (CTO), and Andrew Greene after their experience building novel software solutions within the Department of Defense, including Platform One and Kessel Run. The company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Defense Unicorns makes software a strategic deterrent with solutions that promote data independence, portability, and efficiency. The company delivers secure, scalable, and vendor-lock-free software deployment solutions for mission-critical environments, helping the Department of Defense, system integrators, and mission teams accelerate software delivery without compromising security or compliance. Defense Unicorns' technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. - **Website**: https://defenseunicorns.com/ - **About**: https://defenseunicorns.com/company ### Funding History - **2021**: Founded by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene - **Series A**: $35M investment co-led by Ansa Capital and Sapphire Ventures - **Series B (2026)**: $136M investment led by Bain Capital, achieving a $1 billion+ valuation ### Leadership - **Rob Slaughter, CEO & Co-Founder**: Former U.S. Air Force officer with experience in space vehicles, computer vision, and future capabilities. Served as Director of Platform One, where he helped transform how the DoD builds and delivers software at scale. Holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics. - **Jeff McCoy, CTO & Co-Founder**: Former active-duty Airman with 18+ years of service, later a senior civilian (NH-IV). Led teams in SATCOM, RF transmission, communications planning, and network engineering. Taught tactical cyber systems as a CCAF instructor. Helped launch Kessel Run, DDS Rogue Squadron, SpaceCAMP, and Platform One. Led development of Zarf, Pepr, and the UDS ecosystem at Defense Unicorns. - **Andrew Greene, Co-Founder**: Career focused on engineering solutions for defense and national security. Worked across SpaceCAMP, Platform One, and Defense Unicorns, ensuring UDS continues to evolve as a product that serves the mission. - **Lauren Knausenberger, Chief Business Officer**: Former Department of the Air Force CIO who joined Defense Unicorns to help scale growth, strategic partnerships, and mission impact. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-names-lauren-knausenberger-chief-business-officer/ ### Mission & Values Defense Unicorns believes open-source software is essential to achieving global freedom and independence because it provides transparency and eliminates the vendor lock that has plagued military programs for decades. All core technologies are built on open-source foundations with flexible software licenses, allowing continued use even without a Defense Unicorns contract. --- ## Products All UDS products are available at: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/ Pricing and plan comparison: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing Portfolio and mission examples: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/get-software-to-warfighters-with-uds/ ### Unified Defense Stack (UDS) UDS is a secure, portable, airgap-native platform purpose-built to build, package, deploy, and manage software and AI capabilities for military systems. It supports disconnected, semi-connected, highly secure, and DDIL environments across cloud, on-premises infrastructure, and tactical-edge systems. **Key Capabilities:** - Package once for deployment across cloud, on-premises, tactical edge, and airgapped environments - Secure defaults that support key NIST SP 800-53 technical controls and evidence generation - Real-time observability and threat detection - Zero-trust networking with default-deny Kubernetes NetworkPolicy and Istio STRICT mTLS - CVE scanning, SBOM generation, and software composition analysis - Identity and SSO via Keycloak and Authservice - Admission control via Pepr policies - Runtime security with Falco for real-time threat detection - Airgap-native operation in disconnected, restricted, and DDIL environments **Authorization boundary:** UDS automates technical controls, evidence generation, policy checks, secure packaging, deployment, and operational visibility. Program teams and Authorizing Officials retain responsibility for defining authorization boundaries, assigning control ownership, evaluating risk, and granting an Authorization to Operate. **Architecture:** UDS is designed around zero-trust and defense-in-depth principles. It is fully portable, supporting multiple cloud providers, on-prem infrastructure, and tactical edge solutions. Teams can deploy the same software baseline across contractor environments, government systems, unclassified, classified, or SAP environments without vendor lock-in. ### UDS Base (Free, Open Source) UDS Base is the free, open-source foundation of the UDS platform under the AGPL-3.0 license. It includes UDS Core and the UDS CLI for secure, portable, airgap-ready software delivery and technical evaluation. **Includes:** - Zarf packaging tool for bundling apps and dependencies - Secure runtime and Pepr policy engine - SBOM generation and CVE scanning - Support for fully disconnected and airgapped deployments - OCI-compliant container support - Centralized logging via Vector - Metrics and dashboards via Prometheus and Grafana - Runtime security via Falco - Identity and access management (IDAM) - Service mesh via Istio - Backup and restore capabilities UDS Base is command-line driven and is intended for developers, platform engineers, DevSecOps teams, and organizations evaluating the shared runtime foundation. Commercial UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet capabilities are not part of UDS Base. ### UDS Enterprise UDS Enterprise (https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-enterprise/) builds on UDS Base for secure deployment and management of mission applications across cloud and on-premises enterprise environments. **Key Capabilities:** - Portable application packages across cloud providers and on-premises infrastructure - Infrastructure-as-Code modules for reproducible Azure and AWS environments - Security evidence aggregation and policy evaluation for repeatable authorization workflows - UDS Registry for distribution of trusted software packages across connected and airgapped environments - Operational tooling, hardened images, compliance artifacts, and support ### UDS Fleet UDS Fleet (https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/) extends secure software deployment and management to distributed military systems at the tactical edge. It is purpose-built for airgapped and DDIL environments and supports operator-accessible deployment, fleet-wide observability, resilient data movement, and restoration to a known-good state. **Key Capabilities:** - One-to-one deployment and system management through UDS Connect interfaces on web, tablet, and Android - One-to-many fleet-wide observability and management through UDS Command - Portable packages that operate without continuous network connectivity - Consistent sustainment and rapid restoration across diverse edge systems - UDS System Image and UDS Resilient Data Mesh capabilities for fleet environments - **Documentation**: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/tactical-edge-deployments/overview/ - **FAQ**: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/tactical-edge-deployments/faq/ ### Software Management Software Management (https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/software-management/) covers repeatable integration, packaging, distribution, and delivery of commercial, government, open-source, and custom software from secure cloud environments to the tactical edge. ### UDS Registry UDS Registry is an Enterprise capability for managing and distributing pre-vetted software packages across connected and airgapped mission environments. It uses OCI standards for compatibility with existing container workflows. **Capabilities:** - Simple UI for managing and distributing pre-vetted software packages - Push trusted packages to any environment (connected or airgapped) - API-first design for CI/CD workflow integration - Vulnerability and SBOM data visibility before deployment - Granular access controls and distribution permissions - Cross-architecture compatibility: ARM64 for edge/energy-efficient environments, AMD64 for traditional servers - Self-hosted deployment with UDS Enterprise - **Product Page**: https://registry.defenseunicorns.com/ - **Documentation**: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/registry/overview/ ### UDS Proving Ground UDS Proving Ground (https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/uds-proving-ground/) gives commercial software vendors a guided path to package, scan, validate, generate evidence, and demonstrate capabilities in a representative sandbox environment. It helps vendors prepare software for government evaluation without requiring them to build the entire compliance and demonstration process from scratch. ### CMMC Services CMMC services (https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/cmmc/) help defense contractors implement and maintain NIST SP 800-171 controls, prepare assessment documentation and evidence, and sustain Level 1 or Level 2 CMMC readiness within existing technology environments. --- ## Open Source Projects Defense Unicorns has made significant contributions to the DevSecOps and Kubernetes communities. All open-source projects are available on GitHub at https://github.com/defenseunicorns and via the developer hub at https://defenseunicorns.com/developers. ### Zarf Zarf is a free, open-source tool that enables continuous software delivery of cloud-native applications to systems disconnected from the Internet. It securely bundles and delivers all required files and dependencies into portable artifacts that can be deployed anywhere, even in fully disconnected environments. Zarf was donated to the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and is now used worldwide in aircraft, submarines, space systems, and security screening systems. - **GitHub**: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/zarf - **Documentation**: https://docs.zarf.dev/ ### Pepr Pepr is a production-grade Kubernetes operator and admission controller that eliminates manual configuration and ensures deterministic automation. It enforces policies including non-root execution, dropped capabilities, and blocking privileged/host access. - **GitHub**: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/pepr - **Version**: 1.0 (production-grade) ### Lula Lula is an open-source compliance automation tool that helps teams manage and validate compliance requirements programmatically. - **GitHub**: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/lula ### UDS CLI UDS CLI allows bundling and deploying multiple independent Zarf packages efficiently, streamlining complex multi-package deployments. - **GitHub**: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-cli --- ## Security Architecture UDS maintains a defense-in-depth baseline providing security through the entire software delivery process: - **Secure Supply Chain**: CVE data and SBOMs for transparent software composition analysis and security audits - **Airgap Ready**: Zarf packages for predictable, offline deployments in disconnected environments - **Zero-Trust Networking**: Default-deny Kubernetes NetworkPolicy, Istio STRICT mTLS, and ALLOW-based AuthorizationPolicy - **Identity & SSO**: Keycloak for SSO management with opinionated defaults; Authservice integration to protect apps that don't natively speak OIDC - **Admission Control**: Pepr policies enforcing non-root, drop capabilities, block privileged/host access - **Runtime Security**: Falco for real-time threat detection and alerting on malicious behavior - **Observability & Audit**: Vector for centralized log collection, Prometheus for metrics, Grafana for dashboards --- ## Procurement & Contracting Defense Unicorns offers multiple streamlined contracting pathways for government partners and system integrators. Full details at https://defenseunicorns.com/contract-vehicles/ and https://defenseunicorns.com/start-free. - **GSA IDIQ**: Accepting task order awards from the Department of War, DHS, and CISA; usable as a sole-source vehicle under SBIR Phase III authority - **$350M department-wide IDIQ**: A single-award vehicle for Department of War organizations to procure UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet through streamlined task orders - **SBIR Phase III**: Non-competitive awards available for Defense Unicorns capabilities, accelerating time-to-contract while meeting FAR compliance - **Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace**: UDS is assessed as "awardable" through this OTA contracting mechanism for AI/ML, data, and analytics solutions - **P1 Solutions Marketplace**: Post-competition, readily-awardable for hardware, software, and service solutions - **AWS Marketplace**: UDS available for rapid deployment in GovCloud and hybrid environments - **SeaPort NxG**: Department of the Navy contract vehicle for streamlined acquisition --- ## Use Cases - **Air-gapped software delivery**: Deploy and update cloud-native applications in environments with no internet connectivity (submarines, aircraft, forward operating bases) - **DevSecOps for defense**: Complete CI/CD pipeline with built-in security scanning, compliance automation, and policy enforcement - **ATO preparation**: Automated technical controls, policy checks, and evidence collection support faster, more repeatable authorization workflows - **Multi-environment consistency**: Same software baseline across cloud, on-prem, classified, unclassified, and SAP environments - **CVE and vulnerability management**: Real-time scanning, SBOM tracking, and runtime threat detection - **Tactical edge deployments**: Secure software delivery to bandwidth-constrained and forward-deployed environments via ruggedized mobile devices with one-click deployment - **Navy fleet modernization**: UDS powers the CANES Next Generation modernization effort for cyber resilience across the U.S. Navy fleet - **Software supply chain security**: UDS Registry provides an American-maintained OCI registry securing the software supply chain with vulnerability and SBOM visibility - **Software factory**: Government software factory solutions at https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/software-factory/ - **Compliance automation**: Support faster ATO preparation with automated technical controls and evidence at https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/compliance-automation/ - **Forward deployed engineering**: Embed Defense Unicorns engineers directly with military and government teams at https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/forward-deployed-engineering/ - **Portable DevSecOps for industry**: Repeatable DevSecOps platform with compliance as a baseline for defense contractors at https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/ - **UDS Proving Ground**: Help commercial software vendors package, validate, and demonstrate software for government evaluation at https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/uds-proving-ground/ - **CMMC readiness**: Implement and sustain NIST SP 800-171 controls and prepare Level 1 or Level 2 assessment evidence at https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/cmmc/ - **Disaster response**: First responders can deploy secure, reliable software packages even in blackout conditions --- ## Frequently Asked Questions **What is Defense Unicorns?** Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company that builds open-source, airgap-native software delivery platforms for national security missions. Founded in 2021, the company is valued at over $1 billion. **What is UDS?** UDS (Unified Defense Stack) is a secure, portable, airgap-native software delivery platform purpose-built for national security missions. It enables teams to package, deploy, monitor, and sustain mission applications across any environment. **What is Zarf?** Zarf is a free, open-source tool that bundles cloud-native applications and all their dependencies for deployment to air-gapped environments. It was donated to the OpenSSF and is used in military aircraft, submarines, space systems, and security screening systems worldwide. **What is Pepr?** Pepr is a Kubernetes policy engine and admission controller that automates cluster configuration and enforces security policies. It reached version 1.0 as a production-grade tool. **What is UDS Fleet?** UDS Fleet deploys, manages, and sustains software across distributed military systems at the tactical edge. It combines operator-accessible deployment interfaces with fleet-wide observability and management for airgapped and DDIL environments. **What is UDS Registry?** UDS Registry is a UDS Enterprise capability for managing and distributing pre-vetted software packages across connected and airgapped mission environments. It uses OCI standards and provides vulnerability and SBOM visibility, access controls, and support for ARM64 and AMD64 architectures. **What is UDS Proving Ground?** UDS Proving Ground is a contractor-owned, contractor-operated environment for commercial software vendors to package, scan, validate, generate evidence, and demonstrate products in a representative sandbox before government deployment. **Is UDS open source?** UDS Base is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet build on that foundation with commercially licensed operational capabilities, hardened images, compliance artifacts, and support. **Can UDS deploy to air-gapped environments?** Yes. UDS was built for airgap from the start. Packages can be created and deployed without requiring a persistent network connection, including in Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) environments. **What compliance frameworks does UDS support?** UDS is built and configured to support key NIST SP 800-53 technical controls and to generate security evidence. UDS does not grant an ATO or replace the program's responsibility for authorization boundaries, control ownership, and risk acceptance. **How do I procure UDS?** Defense Unicorns is available through multiple contracting vehicles including SBIR Phase III (sole-source), Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, P1 Solutions Marketplace, AWS Marketplace, SeaPort NxG, and GSA IDIQ. Visit https://defenseunicorns.com/start-free or https://defenseunicorns.com/request-demo. **What makes Defense Unicorns different from other defense tech companies?** Defense Unicorns builds on open-source foundations with no vendor lock-in. The platform is purpose-built for airgapped environments (not adapted from commercial tools), founded by the team that built Platform One and Kessel Run, and designed for complete portability across cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge deployments. **Who founded Defense Unicorns?** Rob Slaughter (CEO), Jeff McCoy (CTO), and Andrew Greene founded Defense Unicorns in 2021 after building novel software solutions within the DoD, including Platform One and Kessel Run. --- ## News & Press - **$350M Department-Wide IDIQ** (September 2026): Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground awarded Defense Unicorns a single-award IDIQ that gives Department of War organizations streamlined access to UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-awarded-350m-single-award-idiq-to-accelerate-software-delivery-for-the-department-of-war/ - **DIU Selects Defense Unicorns for OMEN** (September 2026): UDS Fleet will support Air Mobility Command's Open Mission Engine program across contested, disconnected, and operationally constrained aircraft environments. https://defenseunicorns.com/diu-selects-defense-unicorns-omen-efforts/ - **Air & Space Forces Magazine Highlights DIU OMEN Contract**: Coverage of the DIU and Air Mobility Command awards advancing OMEN software into operational deployment. https://defenseunicorns.com/air-space-forces-magazine-highlights-diu-omen-contract/ - **Lauren Knausenberger Named Chief Business Officer** (September 2026): The former Department of the Air Force CIO joined Defense Unicorns to help scale growth, strategic partnerships, and mission impact. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-names-lauren-knausenberger-chief-business-officer/ - **National Review: The New Generation of Defense Wizards**: National Review examines defense technology companies bringing commercial speed and ingenuity to national security missions. https://defenseunicorns.com/national-reviewthe-new-generation-of-defense-wizards/ - **Rob Slaughter on the Fighter Pilot Podcast**: Conversation about updating F-22 software, airgapped operations, and delivering modern software to the fight. https://defenseunicorns.com/rob-slaughter-on-the-fighter-pilot-podcast/ - **Stephanie Holman Named to Talent 100**: Profile of Defense Unicorns recruiter Stephanie Holman and her human-centered approach to recruiting and AI. https://defenseunicorns.com/stephanie-holman/ - **Navy Selects Defense Unicorns for Ship Software Prototypes** (April 2026): Selected by the U.S. Navy to test a new approach to delivering software prototypes to ships. https://defenseunicorns.com/breaking-defense-defense-unicorns-chosen-by-u-s-navy-to-test-software-prototypes-for-ships/ - **CANES Next-Gen Modernization** (April 2026): Joined the U.S. Navy's CANES Next Generation cyber resilience modernization effort. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-joins-u-s-navys-canes-next-gen-modernization-effort/ - **F-22 Continuous Software Delivery** (April 2026): Demonstrated continuous software delivery on the F-22 fighter jet in partnership with the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-demonstrates-key-enabler-for-continuous-software-delivery-on-the-f-22/ - **UDS Army: Fast Track Secure Software to Soldiers** (February 2026): Announced UDS Army to accelerate secure software delivery to soldiers. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-fast-track-secure-software-to-soldiers/ - **CMMC Level 2 Certification with Zero Findings** (January 2026): Achieved CMMC Level 2 cybersecurity certification with zero Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&Ms). https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-crushes-cmmc-level-2-certification-with-zero-findings/ - **$136M Series B** (January 2026): Raised $136M Series B led by Bain Capital, achieving $1B+ valuation. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-raises-136-million-series-b/ - **UDS Registry Launch** (2025): Launched UDS Registry for mission-critical software distribution. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-launches-uds-registry/ - **RapidFort Partnership** (2025): Partnered with RapidFort to accelerate secure software delivery. https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-accelerates-secure-software-delivery-for-defense-missions-with-rapidfort/ - **SAIC Partnership** (2025): Partnered with SAIC to accelerate DoD software delivery. https://defenseunicorns.com/saic-and-defense-unicorns-partner-to-accelerate-dod-software-delivery/ - **BAE Systems P1 Marketplace** (2025): BAE Systems and Defense Unicorns now awardable on P1 Marketplace. https://defenseunicorns.com/bae-systems-and-defense-unicorns-now-awardable-on-p1-marketplace/ All news: https://defenseunicorns.com/news/ ## Events - **Warhacker** (June 16-19, 2026, San Diego, CA): A first-of-its-kind hackathon bringing together government, industry, academia, and non-profits to build, package, and deploy software solutions to warfighter problems. https://defenseunicorns.com/warhacker/ - **AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition**: Defense Unicorns at AUSA 2026, including sponsorship of the MG Harry Greene National Reception. https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-ausa-2026/ - **ZarfFest**: Defense Unicorns and OpenSSF happy hour for the open-source, cloud-native, and software-security communities during KubeCon. https://defenseunicorns.com/events/zarffest/ - All events: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/ --- ## Links - **Website**: https://defenseunicorns.com/ - **UDS Platform**: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/ - **UDS Enterprise**: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-enterprise/ - **Software Management**: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/software-management/ - **UDS Fleet**: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/ - **Get Software to Warfighters with UDS**: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/get-software-to-warfighters-with-uds/ - **UDS Fleet Live Demo**: https://defenseunicorns.com/uds-fleet-live-demo/ - **Pricing**: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing - **Contract Vehicles**: https://defenseunicorns.com/contract-vehicles/ - **Solutions - Government**: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/software-factory/ - **Compliance Automation**: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/compliance-automation/ - **Forward Deployed Engineering**: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/forward-deployed-engineering/ - **Portable DevSecOps**: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/ - **CMMC**: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/cmmc/ - **UDS Proving Ground**: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/uds-proving-ground/ - **UDS Registry**: https://registry.defenseunicorns.com/ - **UDS Registry Inquiry**: https://defenseunicorns.com/registry-inquiry - **Start Free**: https://defenseunicorns.com/start-free - **Request Demo**: https://defenseunicorns.com/request-demo - **UDS Documentation**: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/ - **Zarf Documentation**: https://docs.zarf.dev/ - **GitHub**: https://github.com/defenseunicorns - **Developers**: https://defenseunicorns.com/developers - **Resources**: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources - **News**: https://defenseunicorns.com/news/ - **Events**: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/ - **Warhacker**: https://defenseunicorns.com/warhacker/ - **Careers**: https://defenseunicorns.com/careers - **Contact**: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact - **Company**: https://defenseunicorns.com/company - **Brand Toolkit**: https://defenseunicorns.com/brand-toolkit/ ## Full Page Content > Generated from 119 current Defense Unicorns pages listed in `/llms.txt`. Each section contains substantive content from the corresponding exported HTML page; global navigation, forms, popups, scripts, and footers are excluded. ### Defense Unicorns | About Us Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/company/ #### Make Software a Strategic Deterrent Our vision is to advance freedom globally. We do this by transforming how the U.S. defense and intelligence community buys, builds, delivers, and sustains mission capabilities because the ability to deploy secure software quickly and continuously is a national security imperative. ###### our history ###### From myth to mission Defense Unicorns was created by people who knew firsthand how desperately the people protecting our world needed software that could move as fast as the threat. At the time it was impossible. We imagined a solution that could update in minutes, be CVE-free as a baseline, and thrive in airgapped and edge environments. And then we built it. ###### 2016-2021 In 2016, a small group of future Unicorns set out to change how the Department of Defense delivers software. That effort became Kessel Run, where we helped achieve the DoD’s first Continuous Authority to Operate (ATO). In 2018, Rob organized a team to build Space CAMP from scratch, bringing together leaders like Jeff McCoy and Andrew Greene. Space CAMP grew and led to Platform One, helping establish the DoD software factory ecosystem. Along the way, many of the people who would later form Defense Unicorns crossed paths, and the foundation of the company began to take shape. ###### March 2021 Defense Unicorns was officially founded, building on our deep experience delivering software in air-gapped, mission-critical environments. After helping stand up Platform One and Big Bang, the team began aligning real-world services work with product R&D—starting with Zarf, an air-gap-native delivery tool. This product-led approach, grounded in the needs of mission operators, drove early growth. ###### February 2024 Defense Unicorns announced a $35M Series A investment, co-led by Ansa Capital and Sapphire Ventures, accelerating the company’s ability to intentionally invest in product development, growth, and notably brought many key contributors to our continued success. ###### January 2026 Four and a half years after our start, Defense Unicorns achieved a $1 Billion+ valuation, becoming a true “unicorn” company! With Bain Capital leading a Series B investment of $136M, 2026 will bring more Mission Heroes into the fold and more improvements to UDS! ##### The Future ###### Continuing to provide open source solutions that eliminate vendor lock. ###### Making it easier than ever to tap into our solutions. ###### Expanding what UDS can do for mission teams. ###### Continuing to shift expectations for what military software can do. ##### Veteran Founded. Engineer Driven. After standing up novel solutions from within the Department of War, we got together to continue offering products that truly serve the mission. - Rob Slaughter Co-founder / CEO Rob founded Defense Unicorns after a career in the U.S. Air Force leading work in space vehicles, computer vision, and future capabilities. As Director of Platform One, he helped transform how the DoW builds and delivers software at scale. With a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics, Rob brings technical depth and mission experience to guide our vision and strategy. - Jeff McCoy Co-founder / CTO Jeff McCoy is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Defense Unicorns. He sets the company’s technical direction and product strategy for secure, mission-critical software, partnering with government and industry to advance modern software delivery and DevSecOps across the Department of Defense. A former active-duty Airman with 18+ years who later served as a senior civilian (NH-IV), Jeff led teams in SATCOM, RF transmission, communications planning, and network engineering, taught tactical cyber systems as a CCAF instructor, and helped launch Kessel Run, DDS Rogue Squadron, SpaceCAMP, and Platform One. At Defense Unicorns, he has led development of Zarf, Pepr, and the Unified Defense Stack (UDS) ecosystem. Zarf was donated to the OpenSSF and is now used worldwide in aircraft, submarines, space systems, and security screening systems. - Andrew Greene Co-founder Andrew has spent his career engineering solutions for defense and national security. From SpaceCAMP to Platform One to Defense Unicorns, he has been at the center of modernizing DoW software delivery. Today, he ensures UDS continues to evolve as a product that truly serves the mission. Rob founded Defense Unicorns after a career in the U.S. Air Force leading work in space vehicles, computer vision, and future capabilities. As Director of Platform One, he helped transform how the DoW builds and delivers software at scale. With a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics, Rob brings technical depth and mission experience to guide our vision and strategy. [Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcslaughter/] [Link: https://x.com/RobCSlaughter] Jeff McCoy is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Defense Unicorns. He sets the company’s technical direction and product strategy for secure, mission-critical software, partnering with government and industry to advance modern software delivery and DevSecOps across the Department of Defense. A former active-duty Airman with 18+ years who later served as a senior civilian (NH-IV), Jeff led teams in SATCOM, RF transmission, communications planning, and network engineering, taught tactical cyber systems as a CCAF instructor, and helped launch Kessel Run, DDS Rogue Squadron, SpaceCAMP, and Platform One. At Defense Unicorns, he has led development of Zarf, Pepr, and the Unified Defense Stack (UDS) ecosystem. Zarf was donated to the OpenSSF and is now used worldwide in aircraft, submarines, space systems, and security screening systems. [Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsmccoy/] Andrew has spent his career engineering solutions for defense and national security. From SpaceCAMP to Platform One to Defense Unicorns, he has been at the center of modernizing DoW software delivery. Today, he ensures UDS continues to evolve as a product that truly serves the mission. [Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewgxyz/] [Link: https://x.com/andrewg_xyz] ##### Mission first, always. As we grow, we are always looking to connect with people who share our vision, whether they’re employees, customers, partners, or press. If that sounds like you, let’s talk. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### What does Defense Unicorns do? Defense Unicorns delivers secure, scalable, and vendor-lock-free software deployment solutions for mission-critical environments. We help the DoW, system integrators, and mission teams accelerate software delivery without compromising security or compliance. ###### Who do you work with? We work with DoW agencies, system integrators, and organizations that need to modernize and secure their software delivery. Our solutions are built for national security missions requiring air-gapped, classified, or highly secure environments. ###### How does Defense Unicorns improve software deployment? We eliminate delays, automate security compliance, and ensure software runs seamlessly across disconnected, classified, and cloud environments—without vendor lock-in or unpredictable costs. ###### How do you help organizations reduce ATO timelines? We integrate security directly into software deployment workflows, reducing the manual compliance burden. Our solutions automate security checks, align with DoW cybersecurity frameworks, and support continuous ATO (cATO) efforts. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Careers Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/careers/ #### Join the Unicorn Blessing Explore careers at Defense Unicorns and see why it truly is a one-in-a-million place to work. Together we can make the world freer and more secure through the power of open source software. ##### Browse Careers ###### Open Positions We’re hiring across engineering, product, growth, and mission delivery teams, and looking for people who thrive on challenge and purpose. See all open roles and take the next step in your career. ##### Our Values ###### Behind Our Sparkle Defense Unicorns operates with a single belief: that a value not lived is not a value at all. We’re looking for talented individuals who share our values and want to advance our purpose. ###### We are MISSION driven ###### We Take Extreme Ownership ###### We Innovate to Impact ##### Benefits ###### Life of a Unicorn See how our culture fosters the brightest minds in technology to advance freedom & independence around the globe. ###### Remote-First Environment Work where you do your best work from anywhere in the United States, supported with home office setup. While most roles are fully remote, onsite requirements will be clearly noted in each job posting when needed to support our Mission Heroes. ###### Family-First Environment Work life should complement home life. Our parental leave provides eligible employees with fully paid leave for birth, adoption, or placement of a foster child. ###### work-life balance We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s. ###### Fully Covered Medical Care We care about the health of our Unicorns. Defense Unicorns pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental, and vision insurance, with the option to add eligible dependents at a shared cost. ###### Financial Health We offer all full-time Unicorns company equity options, a 401k retirement plan, as well as life and disability insurance. ###### Career Growth & Learning We want all Unicorns to continue to grow in their careers. We offer financial support for training, conferences, and professional subscriptions. ##### Skill Bridge Opportunity ##### Same Mission. Different Experience. The DOW SkillBridge program is an opportunity for service members to gain valuable civilian work experience through specific industry training, apprenticeships, or internships during the last 180 days of service. Defense Unicorns is honored to be an authorized SkillBridge provider with a history of providing service members with real-world job experience through this program. ##### Additional Resources ###### See Our Platform Learn how UDS Premium can fit your mission. ###### Book a Discovery We’ll visit you to assess your team’s needs. ###### Find Resources Explore documents and training for developers. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Contact Us Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/ ##### Talk to Us Fill out the form, and we’ll connect you with the right expert. Whatever your mission demands, Defense Unicorns is here to support your success. ##### Explore by need ###### Who we serve Our team partners with government, industry, and integrators to design secure, repeatable, and automated software delivery workflows. ###### Government Teams - Modernize or replace legacy delivery pipelines - Deliver containerized software to IL2–IL6, SCIF, and tactical edge environments - Streamline accreditation and compliance workflows - Implement DevSecOps without adding operational friction - Adopt UDS for automated, secure software delivery across enclaves ###### Industry Partners - Package and deliver software directly into DoW environments - Overcome fragmentation across cloud, on-prem, and airgap deployments - Integrate UDS into your delivery and fielding process - Accelerate customer onboarding and mission readiness - Meet DoW security and compliance requirements with confidence ###### Integrators & Mission Partners - Deliver capabilities rapidly across multiple enclaves - Standardize deployment patterns for diverse customer environments - Leverage UDS to create repeatable, secure, and scalable workflows - Reduce sustainment overhead and minimize operational risk ##### Explore what’s possible Let’s partner to bring secure, repeatable deployment anywhere the mission goes. ##### Additional Resources ###### See Our Platform Learn how UDS can fit your mission. ###### Book a Discovery We’ll help identify your team’s needs. ###### Find Resources Explore docs and training for developers. --- ### Request Demo Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/request-demo/ ##### Request a demo Put Defense Unicorns to work and see for yourself how we transform your operations. Say goodbye to vendor lock and hello to shockproof data independence. We’re standing by to help you modify your software to fit your mission. Give us a few details and we’ll help you get started. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Start Free Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/start-free/ ##### Get Started today Put Defense Unicorns to work and see for yourself how we transform your operations. Say goodbye to vendor lock and hello to shockproof data independence. ###### CONQUER THE AIRGAP We’re standing by to help you modify your software to fit your mission. Give us a few details and we’ll help you get started. ##### How it works ###### Unicorn-Minded. Unicorn-Simple. We’ve been in your shoes. That’s why we made working with us as frictionless as possible. Here’s what to expect. ###### Pick Your Plan Dial in your solutions to your exact needs. ###### Install UDS CLI Set up UDS Core and join our OCI-compliant UDS Registry. ###### Join the Community Dive into our Developer section to discover more! UDS platform ##### Empower Your Mission Team UDS Core provides a solid baseline for developers comfortable with a CLI. UDS Premium’s intuitive UI and managed support invites your wider team to access streamlined solutions. ##### Contract Vehicle ###### Procuring Defense Unicorns We offer plenty of paths to working together, including government contracts and system integrator partnerships. We’re happy to discuss your needs and find the simplest path to working together. ###### IDIQ for SBIR Phase III Orders Defense Unicorns has an IDIQ, issued by GSA, that may accept task order awards from the Department of War, DHS, and CISA. Under the SBIR Phase III authority, this vehicle can be used as a sole-source vehicle for Defense Unicorns’ capabilities or technology. ###### Sole Source SBIR Phase III Authority Building upon the success of our SBIR/STTR Phase I and Phase II contracts, Defense Unicorns is eligible for non-competitive Phase III awards for several technology areas. The SBIR authority can be leveraged to award sole-source contract vehicles, accelerating the timeline to contract award and capability delivery. ###### Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace UDS is assessed as “awardable” through the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, a digital repository of post-competition, readily awardable pitch videos that address the Department of War’s (DoW) most significant challenges in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), data, and analytics space. ###### AWS Marketplace Defense Unicorns is listed on the AWS Marketplace and collaborates with AWS to rapidly deliver scalable and secure cloud infrastructure for mission-critical applications to the Department of War, across any environment. ###### P1 Solutions Marketplace UDS is assessed as “awardable” through the P1 Solutions Marketplace, a digital repository of post-competition, readily-awardable pitch videos that address the Government’s greatest requirements in hardware, software, and service solutions. ###### SeaPort NextGen IDIQ Defense Unicorns may be procured on the Department of the Navy’s SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort NxG) contract vehicle, providing government partners a streamlined path to acquire our mission-focused software and services. ##### Questions? Answered. While there are limits to Doug the Unicorn’s ability to anticipate your questions, we’ve tried our best. ###### How does pricing work? We offer a firm-fixed pricing model, which means you get predictable costs, no hidden fees, and clear deliverables—ideal for government budgeting and procurement cycles. ###### Can I sole-source a contract to Defense Unicorns? Yes. Defense Unicorns holds a SBIR Phase III IDIQ with GSA, which allows for sole-source task orders from DoD, DHS, and CISA for capabilities or technologies derived from our SBIR work. ###### What’s the advantage of using the SBIR Phase III vehicle? SBIR Phase III allows you to bypass traditional competition, accelerating time-to-contract while meeting FAR compliance. It’s tailored for commercializing proven innovations from SBIR efforts. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Airgap Software Delivery Platform Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/ #### Ready. Set. Deploy. Modern weapons are software-defined. UDS makes deploying software to military systems fast, easy, and secure. Update mission capabilities in minutes, not months. ##### How it works ###### Get Software to Warfighters Unified Defense Stack (UDS) is a secure, portable, airgap-native platform, purpose-built for delivering software to military systems. UDS includes the essential tools to build, package, deploy, and manage mission applications. ###### Escape Vendor-Lock Your software partner should never limit access to your critical data. Our open source foundation ensures you maintain data independence. ###### Ready to travel Software should be able to go where the fight goes. We enable software delivery to any environment, from the secure cloud to the tactical edge. ###### Magically efficient Technology shouldn’t drain critical resources. We make software delivery simple and easy, even for large-scale operations. ##### Why UDS? Airgap-Native ###### Ready for Disconnected Operations UDS was designed from its inception to support disconnected, semi-disconnected, and highly secure environments by packaging all applications and their dependencies for airgapped deployment. Portable ###### Package Once; Deploy Anywhere UDS packages are portable across a wide range of mission environments: supporting multiple cloud providers, on-prem infrastructure, and resource-constrained tactical edge systems. Secure ###### ATO-Ready Compliance UDS is built and configured to meet most NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out-of-the-box, ensuring your environment is secure and ATO-ready from the initial deployment. Open Source ###### End Vendor Lock-In Our open source model ensures data independence, giving you the freedom to access, copy, and modify the underlying code for your mission and ending reliance on a single-source vendor. ##### See It for Yourself Tell us about your needs. We’ll create a custom path forward for you. ##### Explore uds Products ###### UDS Enterprise Streamlined packaging, distribution, and deployment of mission apps. ###### UDS Fleet Advanced capabilities for distributed deployments at the tactical edge. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### What is UDS? Unified Defense Stack (UDS) is a secure, portable, airgap-native software delivery platform purpose-built for military systems. It provides the tools needed to build, package, deploy, secure, and manage mission applications across cloud, on-premises, disconnected, and tactical environments. ###### How do UDS Base, UDS Enterprise, and UDS Fleet differ? UDS Base is the free, open-source foundation of the platform, including UDS Core and the UDS CLI. UDS Enterprise adds commercial capabilities for enterprise cloud and on-premises deployments, including software distribution, cybersecurity evidence, infrastructure automation, and support. UDS Fleet extends software deployment and management to distributed systems at the tactical edge. ###### What does airgap-native mean? Airgap-native means UDS was designed to operate without a dependable internet connection. Applications, dependencies, configurations, and required artifacts can be packaged together and transported into disconnected, restricted, and DDIL environments. ###### Does UDS provide an Authorization to Operate? UDS does not itself grant an ATO. Authorization decisions are made by the designated Authorizing Official. UDS helps accelerate the path to authorization by providing a hardened technical baseline, automating security controls, and generating compliance evidence as software is built and deployed. ###### Is UDS open source? UDS Base is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet build on that foundation with commercially licensed capabilities, hardened images, compliance artifacts, operational tooling, and support. --- ### UDS Enterprise: Get Software to the Enterprise Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-enterprise/ uds enterprise ##### get software to the enterprise UDS Enterprise securely deploys and manages mission applications at enterprise scale, supporting hundreds to thousands of concurrent users across multiple cloud service providers and on-prem data centers. Built-in cybersecurity features aggregate compliance artifacts for Authorizing Officials and their security teams, shortening the timeline to an Authorization to Operate. ##### Fast, easy, secure ###### enterprise deployments don’t have to be hard Make deploying and managing software on national security enterprise systems fast, simple, and secure with UDS Enterprise. ###### portable Reduce engineering work by packaging software once and deploying it anywhere, from enterprise cloud to the tactical edge. ###### Get a Head Start Browse our collection of mission-ready applications, pre-packaged and ready to go, many with near-zero-CVE Unicorn-hardened images. ###### Secure from Day One Deploy on a secure runtime platform that meets key NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out of the box, shortening your timeline to ATO. Infrastructure as Code ##### Ready-to-DEPLOY for Azure & AWS Reduce engineering costs and accelerate deployments with ready-to-use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) modules that automate provisioning and ensure secure configuration of your environment. Our unicorn engineers deliver pre-built IaC for Azure or AWS environments based on our proven patterns and tailored to your mission-specific needs. All platform infrastructure is defined, versioned, and deployable via code — enabling reproducible, auditable deployments and eliminating configuration drift between environments. Cybersecurity Evidence ##### Your SecuritY Hub Deploy a security governance hub that gives organizations continuous visibility into the security posture of every software package in their environment. UDS Enterprise aggregates all of the evidence produced by your scanning pipeline (vulnerability assessments, compliance scans, SBOMs, supply chain attestations, etc.) and evaluates it against the security policies your organization defines. Every build triggers an automatic policy check, so your security posture reflects the current state of your software, not a point-in-time snapshot. Security teams get a structured workflow to review findings, document adjudications, and maintain a complete, auditable record of every authorization decision — replacing ad hoc reviews with a repeatable, defensible process. UDS REgistry ##### Secure Software Distribution Locally host UDS Registry in your environment, an OCI-compliant registry that serves as a centralized source of truth for package management and distribution, with first-class support for airgapped operation, continuous vulnerability scanning, and CI/CD integration. Engineers get version tracking, rollback, and access control in one place, while program managers gain the procurement and compliance visibility they need to make informed decisions. ##### Software at the ready ###### Centralized Repository Gain a single source of truth by accessing all your UDS packages in one secure location, enabling version control, AMD64 and ARM64 support, comprehensive metadata, and more. ###### Security-First Architecture Monitor vulnerabilities across packages using CVE tracking, preserve metadata, validate compliance with DOW standards, and manage vulnerabilities to identify security risks early. ###### Flexible Distribution Install only the packages you need for each scenario with customizable deployment features, contract-based access and permissions, and bundle creation for specific mission scenarios and deployments. ###### On-Prem Deployment Access a single source of truth from one secure location, including version control, package tracking and history, edge support, and the ability to reproduce, save, and reuse deployment configurations. ##### uds enterprise faqs Learn more about how UDS Enterprise can help you. ###### What Is UDS Enterprise? UDS Enterprise is a secure software deployment and management platform built for enterprise-scale environments. It enables organizations to deploy mission applications across multiple cloud providers and on-prem systems, including airgapped and DDIL environments, supporting hundreds to thousands of concurrent users. ###### What problems are solved by UDS Enterprise? UDS Enterprise eliminates the complexity of deploying and managing software across hybrid enterprise environments while reducing the time and manual effort required to achieve an Authorization to Operate (ATO). It addresses the dual challenge of secure deployment at scale and compliance readiness. ###### What environments does UDS Enterprise support? UDS Enterprise supports major cloud service providers (Azure, AWS, Google, Oracle) and on-prem systems, including bare-metal servers, vSphere, and VxRail. It is designed from the ground up for airgapped, disconnected, and DDIL (Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited) environments. ###### Who is UDS Enterprise Built For? UDS Enterprise is built for defense and national security organizations that need to deploy and manage software at enterprise scale. Primary users include Cybersecurity Engineers, Platform Engineers, and Defense Program Managers operating in highly secure or regulated environments. ###### How Does UDS Enterprise Support ATO? UDS Enterprise is purpose-built to meet key NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out of the box. Its cybersecurity evidence features automate and aggregate the production of compliance artifacts, giving Authorizing Officials the evidence they need to quickly assess security posture and issue an ATO. ###### What is Infrastructure as Code and why does it matter for UDS Enterprise? Infrastructure as Code (IaC) means all platform infrastructure is defined, versioned, and deployed via code, eliminating manual configuration and configuration drift between environments. UDS Enterprise includes IaC modules for AWS and Azure, tailored for national security systems where correct configuration is critical. ##### uds enterprise ##### take your mission to the enterprise. Your mission has unique demands. Let’s make sure your software stack is ready to meet them. --- ### UDS Fleet: Deploy and Manage Software At the Tactical Edge Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/ uds fleet ##### Get software to the edge UDS Fleet simplifies the deployment and management of software at scale across distributed military systems at the tactical edge. It is an end-to-end platform, purpose-built for airgapped and DDIL environments. UDS Fleet enables warfighters to own their destiny through easy distribution and management of software capabilities. ##### one-to-One and One-To-Many ###### dominate the battlefield of things Simplify deploying and managing software at scale across a fleet of diverse, distributed edge systems with limited connectivity: The “Battlefield of Things.” UDS Fleet enables reliable one-to-one management of mission systems through operator-accessible interfaces on web, tablet, and mobile devices, supporting consistent, scalable sustainment and a known-good operational baseline where traditional connectivity and support models do not apply. It provides one-to-many fleet-wide observability and management through the UDS Command interface. ###### Built for WarFighters UDS Fleet‘s intuitive web, tablet, and mobile interfaces make deploying and managing mission software as simple as downloading an app, empowering every operator at the edge to own their system, no specialized IT expertise required. ###### one package, any environment Build once and deploy anywhere, from enterprise cloud to the tactical edge. UDS Fleet eliminates redundant engineering work and vendor lock-in with a portable platform that runs consistently across any infrastructure. ###### Collapse the ATO timeline UDS Fleet meets key NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out of the box, collapsing the timeline to ATO submission from months to days while ensuring your environment is secure and compliant from the moment of initial deployment. UDS connect ##### Push-Button Simple Delivery UDS Connect simplifies software deployment at the tactical edge through operator-centric interfaces on the web, tablet, and mobile devices. It makes downloading and deploying software updates to disconnected, airgapped systems across the Battlefield of Things as easy as downloading apps to your cell phone at home. UDS Connect is available as a native Android App and a Web App accessible via a desktop or tablet browser. UDS COMMAND ##### Fleet-Wide Observability UDS Command provides centralized observability and management across a fleet of UDS systems, from secure cloud to distributed edge systems. This extends UDS Connect, which provides one-to-one system management, to one-to-many fleet-wide observability and control, giving operators and support teams a consolidated view of deployed systems. UDS System image ##### Full-Stack and Mission-Ready UDS System Images deliver fast, simple, and repeatable software installation and updates for the Battlefield of Things. These purpose-built, immutable system images cover the full stack: Operating System, Kubernetes, UDS, and Mission Applications, all wrapped up in a single, self-contained package. From bare-metal installation to updates, UDS System Images make it easy. When an issue arises in the field, rather than hunting through configs and calling tech support, warfighters can simply reset systems to a known-good state in minutes with a single click, minimizing downtime and operational risk. Resilient data mesh ##### Connecting the Disconnected UDS Fleet provides a mesh protocol that connects heterogeneous systems (drones, sensors, cloud servers, embedded devices, etc.) into a coordinated whole, across any transport path, even when the network is degraded. Built for DDIL operations, UDS Fleet enables the efficient distribution of software and information across constrained network environments. ##### Software at the ready, from satellites to submarines ###### Simple Enable every warfighter to manage the software that powers their systems, with interfaces built for mission operators, not engineers. ###### scalabLe Observe and manage software across hundreds of diverse mission systems in the Battlefield of Things from a single interface. ###### portable Reduce engineering work by packaging software once and deploying anywhere, from enterprise cloud to the tactical edge. ###### airgap native No Internet? No Problem. Deploy and manage software in DDIL environments with resilient data mesh capabilities. ##### Resources ###### Related Articles June 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Fleet to Put Mission Operators in Command at the Tactical Edge Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Fleet to Put Mission Operators in Command at the Tactical Edge New product gives mission operators unified visibility and control across […] ###### F-22 Case Study fly. fix. fly again. Software update cycles on the F-22 once measured in days are now measured in hours. UDS Fleet puts software delivery directly […] ###### Rob Slaughter in Air & Space Forces Magazine As the U.S. Air Force accelerates its transition to open mission systems and rapid software delivery across both next-generation and legacy aircraft, Defense Unicorns is […] March 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns Demonstrates Key Enabler for Continuous Software Delivery on the F-22 EDWARDS AFB, CA – Defense Unicorns, the Airgap Software Company, in partnership with the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate, successfully demonstrated a key enabler […] ##### UDS Fleet FAQs What you need to know about UDS Fleet. ###### WHAT IS UDS FLEET? UDS Fleet is an end-to-end software deployment and management platform purpose-built for the tactical edge. It enables warfighters and operators to deploy, update, and manage mission-critical software across a distributed fleet of systems in airgapped and Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) network environments. UDS Fleet includes UDS Connect for one-to-one edge system management via web, tablet, and mobile, and UDS Command for one-to-many fleet-wide observability and control across hundreds of systems from a single interface. ###### How does UDS Fleet compare to UDS Enterprise? UDS Fleet is designed to empower any warfighter to deploy and manage software at the tactical edge, with push-button-simple interfaces that make installing and updating software as easy as downloading an app to a phone. It’s built for the operational realities of DDIL environments, systems that need rapid resets, and operators who are not specialized IT experts. UDS Enterprise is designed for enterprise-scale cloud and on-prem environments, which are typically managed by a team of IT engineers. It includes advanced Cybersecurity Assessment Tools that provide the insights needed by cybersecurity professionals and Authorizing Officials (AOs) to accelerate the path to an Authorization to Operate (ATO). ###### What military vehicles does UDS Fleet support? UDS Fleet is platform-agnostic and designed to run across the Battlefield of Things, including aircraft, ground vehicles, naval vessels, satellites, drones, and dismounted systems. Because it packages software into immutable, self-contained artifacts that require no connectivity, it can deploy to any system that meets basic compute requirements, regardless of form factor or network availability. In a demonstrated example, Defense Unicorns partnered with the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate to successfully demonstrate continuous software delivery to the F-22 Raptor, installing and upgrading software in the F-22 open mission system compute enclave in a matter of minutes, a first for the platform. When operationalized, this enables rapid deployment of new capabilities across the fleet. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-demonstrates-key-enabler-for-continuous-software-delivery-on-the-f-22/] Read more here. ###### How does UDS Fleet Work? UDS Fleet works in three steps: Package, Deploy, and Manage. Software is packaged once into immutable, self-contained artifacts using the UDS platform with no connectivity required. Those artifacts are distributed to edge systems via UDS Connect, accessible through web, tablet, or a native Android app, allowing any operator to deploy updates as easily as downloading an app to a phone. When issues arise, crews can reset systems to a pre-validated known-good baseline in minutes rather than waiting for specialized IT support. UDS Command provides an optional layer of one-to-many visibility and control across the entire deployed fleet when connectivity is available. ###### What does UDS Fleet cost? UDS Fleet is licensed per system through a subscription model sized to your deployment, whether you’re managing a handful of edge systems or a fleet of thousands. UDS licenses are sold on a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) basis and are available through low-friction contracting paths (see our [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contract-vehicles/] Contract Vehicles page). Contact us to determine pricing for your mission needs. ##### uds fleet ##### take your mission to the edge Your mission has unique demands. Let’s make sure your software stack is ready to meet them. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Software Management Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/software-management/ Software Management ##### Go Where the Mission Goes Simplify and streamline the integration and packaging of your team’s software with UDS’s software management offerings. Whether you’re managing software for commercial, government, open source, or custom uses, we help you get it where it needs to go, from the secure cloud to the tactical edge. Best of all, we help you build a process that is repeatable, reliable, and consistent. ##### End-to-End Management ###### Move Faster with Fewer Resources We gathered what you need to reduce platform engineering time and focus more on getting your technology where it needs to go. ###### Configure Once. Deploy Anywhere. Dig into a centralized, secure, OCI-compliant container registry built for airgap and connected environments alike with UDS Registry. ###### Get a Head Start. Browse our collection of mission-ready applications, pre-packaged and ready-to-go, many with near-zero-CVE Unicorn-hardened images. ###### Integrate for Every Mission. Access a secure runtime platform that meets a majority of NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out-of-the-box. UDS Registry ##### Hello Security. Goodbye Workarounds. Before UDS Registry, delivery engineers had to stitch together multiple registries, tools, and workflows, creating delays, inconsistencies, and compliance risks. Now, they manage everything in one secure container registry built for mission environments. With UDS Registry, teams pre-load mission-specific apps, control access by role, and deploy fully trusted packages—whether in cloud, on-prem, or in airgapped, edge systems. Everything needed for delivery is ready when the mission requires it. Up to Faster deployment timelines while improving security, traceability, and control More than Pre-Integrated and deployment ready apps available Supported environments ###### IL2-IL6+ Enabling secure, disconnected software delivery, from secure cloud to the tactical edge ##### Software at the ready ###### Centralized Package Management Gain a single source of truth by accessing all your UDS packages in one secure location, enabling version control, ARM64 and AMD64 support, comprehensive metadata, and more. Tap into our intuitive search and discovery features to find relevant packages quickly. ###### Security First Architecture Monitor vulnerabilities across packages with CVE tracking, including metadata preservation, compliance validation against DOW standards, and vulnerability management to identify security risks early. ###### Flexible Distribution Install only the packages you need for each scenario with customizable deployment features, contract-based access and permissions, as well as bundle creation for specific mission scenarios and deployments. ###### On-Prem Deployment Access a single source of truth from one secure location, including version control, package tracking and history, edge support, and the ability to reproduce, save, and reuse deployment configurations. ###### Pre-Packaged and Tailored for Your Mission Our engineers have curated over 30 applications that are ready to go, with near-zero CVE as a baseline. Explore our curated free selection to test drive UDS in action, and gain access to more with a paid license. ##### Software management ##### Make Your Next Mission Fly Put our software management offerings to work for your team. We’re here to help you decide just what you need to equip your mission for success. ###### Save Resources Cut down on the deployment timelines by streamlining package management. ###### Streamline Unite CVE & Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) data for comprehensive security & compliance visibility. ###### Simplify Speed up procurement by providing clear access and distribution of authorized packages. ##### Application Integration Our [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/structure/packages/] Developer Hub is filled with information to get you started. For now, here are some answers to your most common questions. ###### WHAT IS A UDS PACKAGE? Under the hood, UDS uses Zarf to package applications for airgap deployment, including all necessary metadata and dependencies. That means UDS packages are essentially Zarf packages with a few additional components. Applications packaged for UDS integrate with the [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] UDS Core runtime platform. That means, when you deploy a UDS app package, it will be working with all of the components of the UDS Core platform out-of-the-box. ###### How does an application integrate with UDS? UDS packages include all of the OCI images, Helm charts, and supplemental Kubernetes manifests required for the app to communicate with the UDS Core runtime platform. The UDS Operator (built on one of our open source projects, [Link: https://pepr.dev/] Pepr) then automatically applies appropriate security and network policies to ensure a secure, compliant runtime environment. ###### How does UDS make it easy? The set of tools that make up UDS Core work together to provide a secure runtime platform that meets a majority of NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out-of-the-box. UDS greatly simplifies integration through the UDS Operator (built on Pepr), which provides a single point of integration of mission applications to communicate with the components of the UDS Core runtime platform. This greatly reduces integration complexity and, in turn, the FTE hours required. This simplified approach also reduces the likelihood of misconfiguration and ensures your application packages are deployed to any UDS environment in a reliable and repeatable manner. --- ### Get Software to Warfighters with UDS Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/get-software-to-warfighters-with-uds/ ###### get on contract fast to get software to warfighters ###### dominate the battle field of things ###### fly-fix-fly: How UDS gets software to the f-22 ###### Enterprise deployments don’t have to be hard ###### Cut the line and put Defense Unicorns to work today --- ### Unified Defense Stack (UDS) Pricing Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/ #### UDS Plans Compare UDS Enterprise, designed for enterprise-scale deployments to cloud and on-prem systems, with UDS Fleet, built to deploy and manage a fleet of distributed systems at the edge. | UDS License Feature ComparisonBaseAGPLv3FreeEnterpriseCOMMERCIALPaidFleetCOMMERCIALPaid | | UDS Core✓✓✓ | | UDS CLI✓✓✓ | | SBOM & CVE Scans✓✓✓ | | Unicorn-Hardened & FIPS Images✓✓ | | ATO Compliance Artifacts✓✓ | | General Support Services✓✓ | | UDS Registry✓ | | Compliance Assessment Tool✓ | | Infrastructure-as-Code Modules✓ | | UDS Command✓ | | UDS Connect (Web)✓ | | UDS Connect (Android)✓ | | UDS System Image✓ | | UDS Resilient Data Mesh✓ | UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet both include the following features: Unicorn Images Hardened Container Images with Near-Zero-CVEs and FIPS-Validation for Core Runtime General Support Phone and Email Support for Incidents, Troubleshooting, and Other Matters, with 24/7 Response for Critical Issues ATO Compliance Artifacts Cybersecurity Compliance Artifacts to Accelerate ATO Timelines, including SCTM, SBOM, and System Architecture Diagrams ##### Built on UDS Base Our ecosystem of free, open-source tools is purpose-built to enable secure, portable, and airgap-native software delivery for military systems. Airgap-native Operates fully offline in DDIL environments, no Internet required Portable Package once, deploy anywhere — from secure cloud to tactical edge Compliant Meet NIST SP 800-53 controls out of the box, ATO-ready from day one Secure runtime Kubernetes-based secure, hardened runtime environment Open source 100% open source core — mission continues even if licensing ends UDS CLI Command-line tooling for packaging and deploying UDS bundles ##### UDS License FAQs What you need to know about UDS Plans. ###### How is UDS licensed? UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet are licensed per “unique environment,” which is defined as a unique combination of: - Infrastructure/Hypervisor (e.g., Azure vs. AWS) - Kubernetes Distribution (e.g., EKS vs. k0s) - Classification/Impact Level (e.g., IL4 vs. IL5) - Geographic Location (Individual Aircraft, Ships, Vehicles, etc.) UDS licenses are sold on a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) basis. Contact us to determine pricing for your mission needs. ###### Is UDS Open Source? The foundational components of UDS, “UDS Base”, are 100% free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. This includes: - UDS Core Secure Runtime Platform - UDS Command Line Interface (CLI) - Software Bill-of-Materials (SBOM) UDS Base ensures your mission can run, with or without Defense Unicorns, putting an end to vendor lock-in. The paid UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet licenses build on UDS Base, adding enhanced features, security, and support. ###### What’s included with support? UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet include general support services via phone and email for incidents, troubleshooting, and other matters, with 24/7 response for critical issues. Service Level Agreement (SLA) details are listed in the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/product-terms-and-conditions/] Product Terms & Conditions. If your mission requires additional support, such as on-location Site Reliability Engineers and/or Forward Deployed Engineering, Defense Unicorns also provides “Mission-as-a-Service” support subscriptions. UDS Base is the free, open source foundation of UDS and does not include dedicated support. It is provided as-is under the AGPL-3.0 license. ###### What happens if I don’t renew? Defense Unicorns is dedicated to doing what’s right for the warfighter. We know that funding can shift and budgets aren’t always approved on time, but the mission doesn’t stop. UDS Base will always be 100% open source, with all updates freely available. This is the secure foundation for continuing to run your mission. You can continue using the paid features of UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet indefinitely. There is no technical or contractual mechanism to prevent that, such as expiring license keys. However, you will lose access to future software updates and support. Put simply, you can continue using the last version of our licensed software that you paid for. The open source components will always be free. --- ### Registry Inquiry Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/registry-inquiry/ UDS Registry Inquiry ##### Pre-Vetted, Ready-to-Deploy Software Get custom applications and supported tools packaged under contract, delivered through a deployable UDS Registry. ##### Get Access We provide pre-vetted software—including open source and vendor offerings—hardened and maintained for your mission needs. - Get help packaging custom or vendor software for secure delivery. - Explore supported apps and deployment paths for your mission. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Software Factory Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/software-factory/ Software Factory ##### Stand Up a Secure Factory in Days We’ve revolutionized how the Department of War can build, test, secure, and deploy a software factory at warp speed, shaving months if not years off the process. ###### Speed Accelerate your path to ATO with standardized pipelines and hardened patterns. A repeatable DevSecOps platform avoids redundant work and saves millions in engineering effort. ###### Repeatability Access a pre-built, tailorable DevSecOps platform with hardened configurations and repeatable CI/CD patterns. Our experts can build or tailor pipelines using patterns proven across DOW programs. ###### Compliance Automated CI/CD jobs address the majority of security requirements, while unanswered controls tied to mission context (data sources, user roles, etc.) are captured to accelerate authorization. Our Difference ###### Solve for Your Top Challenges Short on time, technical expertise, and specific talent? Slowed down by a pipeline that takes months to engineer, with tooling choices that vary, interoperability limitations, and the need for an ATO? We make it possible to start with a strong baseline rather than build from scratch. Enhanced Cybersecurity ###### Security Built In, Not Bolted On Continuous monitoring and automated compliance reduce vulnerabilities before they reach the field. Proof of Success ##### 6 Months to 2 Days NAVSEA adopted DevSecOps standards using UDS, cutting their software update timeline meaningfully, while strengthening their compliance posture ##### FAQ Explore common questions about our Software Factory capabilities. ###### What compliance and authorization capabilities do you cover? UDS pipelines map directly to service-specific ATO guidance, including: - NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 4/5 - Application Security & Development (ASD) STIG - DevSecOps Continuous Authorization Implementation Guide - RAISE Platform of Choice (RPOC) – Navy - Afloat Software Authorization Playbook (ASAP) – Navy - Army CIO Policy for DSOP & DSOP Pipelines - DOW Enterprise DevSecOps Reference Design - OWASP Top Ten ##### Secure. Repeatable. Mission-Ready. Watch your timeline shrink by putting our software factory capabilities to work for your next mission. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Compliance Automation Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/compliance-automation/ ##### Compliance Automation for Government ##### Cut ATO Timelines. Comply Faster. Automate security controls and compliance evidence with UDS, so your teams can move faster, reduce risk, and reach ATO without documentation overload. ###### ATO, Faster Automate controls and evidence to shorten authorization timelines from months to weeks. ###### Built in Compliance Meet a majority of NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out of the box with a hardened platform. ###### Always Audit-Ready Generate and maintain compliance artifacts that Authorizing Officials can trust. ##### The Problem ###### Accreditation Becomes a Bottleneck Traditional authorization can take 12-18 months. As your teams implement hundreds of NIST SP 800-53 controls, they need to manually document compliance for each one. As systems change, evidence can fall behind, approvals slow down, and mission capability waits on paperwork instead of progress. ##### The Solution ###### Compliance, Automated by Design Access hardened components for authorization, monitoring, logging, identity and access management, service mesh, container security, and backup and restore. With UDS, security is part of the platform—not an afterthought. UDS meets a majority of NIST SP 800-53 technical controls out of the box, depending on impact level and deployment context. ###### Mapped Controls Security Control Traceability Matrix for NIST SP 800-53. ###### Architectural Clarity System architecture and information flow diagrams built for AO review. ###### Full Transparency Complete inventories of ports, protocols, services, and infrastructure. ###### Continuous Insight SBOMs and CVE scan results, visible directly in the UDS Registry UI. Reduced timelines to ATO through automated controls and reusable evidence. A majority of NIST SP 800-53 technical controls addressed out of the box. Compliance artifacts generated directly from deployed systems, not slide decks. ##### Today ###### Compliance Generated as You Deliver Today, UDS produces authoritative security and compliance artifacts as part of the delivery pipeline. Our platform generates evidence automatically as software moves through build and deployment. Authorizing Officials gain a clear, trustworthy view of what’s actually running, without relying on manual documentation. ##### Ready to Accelerate Your Path to ATO? See how automated compliance can reduce risk, eliminate manual effort, and deliver mission capability faster. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### What does UDS automate for compliance? UDS automates technical controls and evidence generation throughout the software delivery process. This includes security scans, software bills of materials, vulnerability results, system architecture information, control mappings, and other artifacts used during authorization reviews. ###### Which NIST SP 800-53 controls does UDS address? UDS addresses a majority of applicable technical controls through its hardened runtime and integrated platform services. Exact coverage depends on the system’s impact level, deployment architecture, mission data, and authorization boundary. ###### Can UDS support continuous authorization? UDS supports continuous authorization practices by making security controls, monitoring, and evidence generation part of the delivery process. The specific authorization model and approval process remain the responsibility of the program and its Authorizing Official. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Forward Deployed Engineering Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/government/forward-deployed-engineering/ Forward Deployed Engineering for Government ##### Embed Engineering in Your Mission Add expertise to your software arsenal. Defense Unicorns’ Forward Deployed Engineers work alongside operators to build, deploy, and adapt mission software fast, even in classified and airgapped environments. ###### Expertise, Applied Engineers embed directly with mission teams to understand real workflows and real constraints. ###### Rapid Delivery Cycles Short loops from problem to working capability are measured in days or weeks, not years. ###### Deploy Where It Matters Solutions run in cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge systems from day one. The Reality ##### Off-the-Shelf Software Breaks at the Mission Edge Military operations run on legacy, constrained infrastructure, where data is fragmented, and security boundaries are tight. Off-the-shelf software rarely fits without heavy customization. Teams are forced to build custom integrations, workflows, and analytics, often for disconnected or classified environments. By the time solutions arrive, they’re misaligned with how operators actually work. ###### Missions Don’t Wait for Product Roadmaps Operational teams need fast results, with quick cycles from problem to working solution, tight feedback loops, and priorities driven by the mission, not quarterly feature plans. The Solution ##### Forward Deployed Engineering for Defense Defense Unicorns’ Forward Deployed Engineers integrate software, write production-quality custom code, and deploy solutions directly into your environment, including operations that include sensitive and classified data. By working beside users, FDEs gather real-world feedback, iterate quickly, and troubleshoot mission-critical issues in real time. ###### Embed With the Mission Engineers observe workflows, systems, and constraints where the work actually happens. ###### Build and Deploy Fast Small, functional slices ship quickly into real environments for immediate feedback. ###### Iterate at Mission Speed Feedback loops stay tight as solutions evolve alongside changing operational needs. Impact ##### Outcomes That Hold Up in the Real World Forward Deployed Engineers delivers mission-specific solutions shaped by real operator workflows—not generic use cases. Teams move from problem to deployed capability in short cycles, validating software in operational environments instead of test labs. Because engineers work alongside the mission, solutions adapt as data, constraints, and priorities change. Software doesn’t just ship, it evolves with the operation. ##### LARA: Built Beside Naval Engineers Real-World Example ###### Designed Around Real Workflows LARA is an AI assistant purpose-built to help teams understand and act on complex Naval Engineering Records by extracting insights from thousands of historical documents and technical references. Using the Forward Deployed Engineering model, our team observed how users actually worked, identified friction in daily tasks, and shipped small functional updates for rapid feedback. Mission Impact ###### Faster Decisions in Operational Environments UDS enables consistent, rapid deployments into real operational environments. New features reach users immediately while environments remain stable and reproducible. 21% reduction in response time, saving over two days of resolution time per task ##### Bring Engineering to the Front Lines Embed engineers within your mission and deliver software that actually works in the real world. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### What does a Forward Deployed Engineer do? Forward Deployed Engineers work alongside mission teams to understand operational workflows, integrate systems, write production-quality custom code, and deploy capabilities directly into mission environments. ###### What kinds of environments can Forward Deployed Engineers support? Engagements can support cloud, on-premises, tactical-edge, disconnected, and airgapped environments. Work involving classified systems or sensitive data is scoped according to the program’s security requirements. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Portable DevSecOps Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/ ##### Portable DevSecOps for Industry ##### DevSecOps that Travels, and Scales Build once. Package once. Deploy anywhere. UDS gives software vendors and integrators a repeatable DevSecOps platform that moves fast—and proves compliance. Requiring dozens of custom builds to deploy software on your mission systems? Streamline your efforts with UDS. Standardize DevSecOps pipelines and packaging so your vendors and integrators can streamline deployment, and prove compliance without slowing delivery. ###### Build Once. Deploy Anywhere. Package applications once and deploy them consistently across dozens of environments without custom integration work. ###### Compliance Travels with Software Generate security scans and artifacts automatically, so proving compliance doesn’t slow delivery. ###### Scale Without Rebuilding Pipelines Standardize DevSecOps pipelines to eliminate environment-specific drift and reduce engineering overhead as deployments grow. ##### The Problem ###### A Custom Job, Every Time Software vendors and system integrators rarely deploy into a single environment. Applications must run across dozens of systems, each configured differently and managed independently. Those differences turn every deployment and update into custom engineering work. Delivery slows down, costs increase, and proving security and compliance becomes a constant drain. The result is software that works but doesn’t scale. ###### Bespoke Integrations Everywhere Each mission system requires custom pipelines, configs, and deployment logic. ###### Engineering Bottlenecks Highly skilled engineers spend time rebuilding infrastructure instead of shipping features. ###### Compliance as a Tax Security scans, artifacts, and documentation need to be recreated for every environment. ###### Slow Time to Mission Applications stall in authorization queues while customers wait. ##### The platform ##### What If DevSecOps Was Portable? Instead of treating every environment as unique, UDS flips the model. Standardize the platform. Standardize the pipeline. Let the application move freely. With UDS, you can make DevSecOps a repeatable system rather than a one-off effort tied to a single program or customer. ##### The UDS Platform ###### A Repeatable DevSecOps Foundation UDS provides a baseline DevSecOps platform with the most common development, security, and delivery tools pre-integrated and hardened. Teams can tailor pipelines as needed, but gain the benefit of starting from proven patterns. Unicorn engineers can help accelerate adoption by building CI/CD pipelines optimized for scale and authorization readiness. Don’t think of it as a framework. Think of it as a working system. ###### Packaging Made Portable Integrate and package with UDS, making software portable across any environment running the platform. ###### Consistent CI/CD Pipelines The same pipeline runs everywhere, eliminating drift and bespoke rebuilds. ###### Built-In Security Evidence Automate pipeline generation for the artifacts you need to support system authorization. ###### Security Evidence, Built In UDS pipelines generate the security evidence required for authorization as software is built and deployed. Scans, SBOMs, and compliance artifacts are produced automatically, not assembled later. This reduces the time SIs spend preparing for ATO and makes it easier to demonstrate compliance to customers. ##### Industry Example ##### How SAIC Scaled Secure Delivery SAIC faced the challenge many integrators know well: mission applications need to be deployed across countless unique systems, each requiring custom integration. By standardizing on UDS, SAIC eliminated bespoke deployments and enabled consistent delivery across all the environments they manage, without sacrificing security or scalability. “By leveraging UDS, we are reducing complexity and ensuring the government can rapidly and consistently deploy secure, scalable software applications across diverse and challenging operational environments.” — Bob Ritchie, Chief Technology Officer, SAIC ##### Make DevSecOps Work at Scale Standardize delivery, speed up compliance, and deploy secure software anywhere, with UDS. ##### FAQ Some common questions ###### What is portable DevSecOps? Portable DevSecOps standardizes how applications are built, secured, packaged, and delivered so teams do not have to recreate pipelines and deployment logic for every mission environment. ###### How is portable DevSecOps different from a software factory? A software factory provides the pipelines and workflows used to build and evaluate software. Portable DevSecOps extends that model by packaging applications so the same validated capability can move consistently across supported environments. ###### Where can UDS packages be deployed? UDS is designed to support cloud, on-premises, disconnected, airgapped, and tactical-edge environments. Specific infrastructure requirements should be evaluated for each target system. --- ### CMMC | NIST 800-171 Compliance Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/cmmc/ ##### NIST 800-171 Compliance, Built and Maintained ##### Leading the way to lasting CMMC readiness Fast-track your Level 1 or Level 2 CMMC assessment with tailored solutions for gaining and maintaining NIST 800-171 compliance. While you focus on winning defense work, we help you identify and close gaps, build the evidence and documentation, and guide you every step of the way. ###### Implement and sustain NIST 800-171 We configure your systems, build the documentation, support through the assessment, and continuously maintain the controls for CMMC. ###### Work with Your Existing Systems Our vendor-agnostic experts work within Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and all operating systems, even when the setup is complex. ###### get Assessment Documentation Receive a tailored packet with your System Security Plan, policies, procedures, architecture diagrams, databases, and supporting evidence. ##### The Reality ###### your contracts rely on NIST 800-171 compliance Defense contractors are already required to protect controlled unclassified information under NIST 800-171 and to post an accurate self-assessment score before award. Primes are checking. False scores carry real liability. And when CMMC returns in whatever form it takes, the companies with their controls, documentation, and evidence in order are the ones that keep their contracts. We simplify the process by aligning your security practices with NIST SP 800-171, implementing required safeguards, and building a sustainable, assessment-ready program without disrupting operations or replacing existing technology. ###### Fast, managed Compliance Meet your timeline, then stay compliant with continued expert support. ###### clear Compliance blockers Uncover the root cause of complex compliance gaps and close them. ###### Easy, Assessor-Ready Evidence Give assessors clear, well-organized evidence in a format they can follow. ###### Affordable, Year-Round Support Get implementation and ongoing compliance support at an affordable price. ##### Get Your business cmmc ready Navigate the requirements. Clear every checkpoint. Protect the mission. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### Do I still need to maintain CMMC compliance while Phase II is paused? Yes. [Link: https://business.defense.gov/Engage/News/Newsfeed-Repository/Article/4542563/forging-the-arsenal-of-freedom-department-of-war-suspends-cmmc-phase-ii-require/] The pause delays the rollout of Phase II assessments, but it does not pause the cybersecurity requirements in your contracts. Phase I self-assessments remain in effect where required. Defense contractors and subcontractors must continue protecting federal data under applicable contract requirements, including DFARS 252.204-7012 and NIST SP 800-171 where they apply. The government can still assess compliance during the pause. ###### How will your team work with mine? We work alongside your team, providing hands-on guidance and support while helping you build the internal knowledge needed to maintain compliance over time. ###### What technical and CMMC experience does your team have? Our team of Certified CMMC Professionals (CCPs) has real-world IT experience and has helped multiple customers successfully prepare for and complete CMMC assessments. ###### Can you work alongside my existing managed service provider (MSP)? Yes. We collaborate directly with your MSP to address technical requirements, close compliance gaps, and keep your CMMC efforts moving forward. --- ### UDS Proving Ground | DOW Authorization Fast Track Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/uds-proving-ground/ ##### Commercial Software’s virtual test & evaluation range ##### the clearer, faster path to authorization Selling software to the Department of War (DOW) doesn’t have to mean rebuilding your business around compliance. UDS Proving Ground gives commercial software vendors a guided path to package, scan, validate, generate evidence, and demonstrate capabilities in a representative sandbox environment. Your team saves time, reduces costs, and avoids the complexity of building the process from scratch. ###### get military-Network-ready Use a repeatable packaging, scanning, and validation pipeline to get your software in front of DOW authorizing officials faster. ###### package once. reach further. Create one portable software package designed for deployment across different DOW environments, without maintaining a separate delivery pipeline for each. ###### Focus on Product, Not Paperwork Automated scans and compliance artifact generation free your team to invest in product features, not security documentation. ##### The Reality ###### the cost of proving compliance Is a Barrier to Entry For commercial software vendors, delivering to the DOW isn’t just a new market to enter; it’s a new operating model. Traditional authorization paths demand months of security engineering, documentation, and manual evidence collection. For many vendors, the required time, expertise, and cost put the DOW out of reach. ###### shorter Timelines Speed up DOW market entry and shorten path to revenue with a guided, repeatable process. ###### lower Compliance Costs Automated evidence collection reduces hundreds of engineering hours. ###### BUilt-in support Navigate NIST controls, STIGs, and service-specific requirements without the steep learning curve. ###### source code stays private Build government confidence in your application with verifiable evidence, without exposing proprietary code. ##### Mission-Ready Apps Commercial software vendors choose UDS Proving Ground to package, validate, and demonstrate their products with fewer integration barriers. Faster evaluation means military teams stay equipped with modern capabilities and ready for the mission ahead. ##### Get Your Software to warfighters Keep the rigor. Ease the burden. Build confidence backed by evidence. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### Who owns and operates UDS Proving Ground? UDS Proving Ground is a contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) solution managed by Defense Unicorns. It includes the packaging pipeline, automated security scanning, security evidence review, and demonstration environments. ###### Can I transition from UDS Proving Ground to an environment I own? Yes. You can transition from the Defense Unicorns-owned and operated COCO platform to an environment your company owns and operates. Your deployable software package and the security evidence generated through the platform can move with you, helping you build on the work already completed. ###### Do I need to provide my source code? No. You retain control of your source code and intellectual property. If a sponsor or Authorizing Official requires additional access, that is handled as a separate requirement. --- ### Contract vehicles Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/contract-vehicles/ ##### Contract Vehicle ###### Procuring Defense Unicorns We offer plenty of paths to working together, including government contracts and system integrator partnerships. We’re happy to discuss your needs and find the simplest path to working together. ###### IDIQ for SBIR Phase III Orders Defense Unicorns has an IDIQ, issued by GSA, that may accept task order awards from the Department of War, DHS, and CISA. Under the SBIR Phase III authority, this vehicle can be used as a sole-source vehicle for Defense Unicorns’ capabilities or technology. ###### Sole Source SBIR Phase III Authority Building upon the success of our SBIR/STTR Phase I and Phase II contracts, Defense Unicorns is eligible for non-competitive Phase III awards for several technology areas. The SBIR authority can be leveraged to award sole-source contract vehicles, accelerating the timeline to contract award and capability delivery. ###### Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace UDS is assessed as “awardable” through the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, a digital repository of post-competition, readily awardable pitch videos that address the Department of War’s (DoW) most significant challenges in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), data, and analytics space. ###### AWS Marketplace Defense Unicorns is listed on the AWS Marketplace and collaborates with AWS to rapidly deliver scalable and secure cloud infrastructure for mission-critical applications to the Department of War, across any environment. ###### P1 Solutions Marketplace UDS is assessed as “awardable” through the P1 Solutions Marketplace, a digital repository of post-competition, readily-awardable pitch videos that address the Government’s greatest requirements in hardware, software, and service solutions. ###### SeaPort NextGen IDIQ Defense Unicorns may be procured on the Department of the Navy’s SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort NxG) contract vehicle, providing government partners a streamlined path to acquire our mission-focused software and services. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Developers Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/developers/ #### Deliver Software. On Time. On Target. Soar past barriers with UDS, our secure, portable, airgap-native platform, purpose-built for delivering software to military systems. UDS includes the essential tools to package, deploy, monitor, and sustain mission applications. ##### Your Open Source Toolkit ###### UDS CORE Tech Stack UDS Core is the foundation of our UDS software delivery platform. It combines the best of open source DevSecOps tools for monitoring, log aggregation, airgap deployment, and more into a secure runtime platform that addresses the unique challenges of deploying and updating software on military systems. ###### Keycloak (IDAM) ###### Prometheus Stack (Monitoring) ###### Loki (Log Aggregation) ###### Authservice (Authorization) ###### Grafana ###### Vector ###### Istio (Service Mesh) ###### Falco (Container Security) ###### Velero (Backup & Restore) ###### Metrics Server (Resource Metrics) ###### Pepr (Policy Engine & Operator) ###### Zarf (Airgap Deploy & SBOM) ##### Our Open Source Commitment We believe that open source software is essential to achieving our vision of global freedom and independence because it provides transparency and eliminates the vendor lock that has plagued military programs for decades. Defense Unicorns is proud of the significant contributions we’ve made to the DevSecOps and Kubernetes communities since our founding, and we are committed to continuing to build and share open source software with the world. ##### Zarf ###### Airgap Software Delivery Zarf is a free, open source tool that enables continuous software delivery of cloud-native applications to systems disconnected from the Internet by securely bundling and delivering all required files and dependencies. ###### Portable Package and deploy to airgapped areas. ###### Consistent Deploy the same capabilities into highly distributable systems. ###### Compliant Access support for SBOM requirements. ###### Continuous Stay productive in connected and disconnected environments. ##### Pepr ###### Kubernetes Middleware Made Easy Pepr is a free, open source tool that helps IT Operations teams of all skill levels manage and modify resources in a Kubernetes (K8s) cluster using easy-to-read, easy-to-write configuration modules. ###### Create Robust Policy Engines Codify security policy into corrective Pepr modules that can identify and remediate risk through automatically enforcing K8s best practices. ###### Seamlessly Connect Applications Automate the integration of mission capabilities into complex systems with Pepr modules that are reusable across multiple systems. ###### Automate K8s Scripts Remove the need for human intervention when issues arise in the cluster or application, by using Pepr modules to remediate the event. ##### Explore Developer Resources for UDS ###### Documentation Dive into the UDS documentation to learn about all of its features. ###### Tutorials Learn about using Zarf, Pepr, and UDS with a series of developer tutorials. ###### Exercises Get hands-on practice in packaging and deploying applications with UDS. ##### FAQ You have questions, we have answers. If you can’t find an answer, contact our team for assistance. ###### What is included in the UDS open-source ecosystem? The ecosystem includes UDS Core, the UDS CLI, Zarf, and Pepr. Together, these tools provide a secure runtime, portable application packaging, airgap delivery, Kubernetes policy enforcement, monitoring, and other foundational capabilities. ###### Do developers need UDS Enterprise or UDS Fleet to begin? No. Developers can begin with the free, open-source UDS Base components. Commercial UDS products add hardened images, compliance artifacts, operational interfaces, advanced distribution and management capabilities, and dedicated support. --- ### Resources Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/ #### Articles and Insights Explore expert insights from Defense Unicorns on secure software delivery, DevSecOps, and innovation in mission-critical environments. October 2026 ###### Meet Lauren Knausenberger, Defense Unicorns Chief Business Officer Lauren Knausenberger has spent her career tackling some of the hardest problems in national security. Her path has included serving as Chief Information Officer for […] September 2026 ###### Is UDS MOSA? Yes. Is UDS MOSA? Yes. We hear this question a lot: “Is Defense Unicorns’ Unified Defense Stack (UDS) MOSA compliant?” There’s a lot to unpack there, […] August 2026 ###### From Open Source to the Flight Line: A Conversation with Eddie Zaneski Eddie Zaneski never expected to work in defense technology. Then a chance conversation changed the course of his career, leading him to join Defense Unicorns […] ###### On Vendor Lock Open Source Software is a founding principle of Defense Unicorns because we believe vendor lock is harmful to national security. Three Problems with Vendor-Locked Systems […] July 2026 ###### In support of open weight AI We’re proud to sign this letter in support of open weight AI alongside Microsoft and other industry leaders. Since our founding, we’ve believed that open […] ###### When Warfighters Control Their Own Software: A Conversation with Austen Bryan Austen Bryan is Defense Unicorns’ chief strategy and product officer. He came to the company straight from active duty; a Skillbridge success story who’s held […] May 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns Joins the Spire 71 Car for the Anduril 250 For the first time, a national-level race will be held on an active military installation, as part of the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary. A milestone […] June 2026 ###### Authorization to Operate Explained The Authorization to Operate Process for Defense Software Every information system that touches a federal or defense network must earn permission to operate, and that […] April 2026 ###### Warhacker: Don’t Just Talk About Problems, Build the Solutions There are plenty of DOW conferences where people gather to talk about problems, get fired up, and then do nothing. Warhacker is not one of […] March 2026 ###### Announcing UDS Core 1.0 After years of enabling warfighting missions, Defense Unicorns is proud to announce that UDS Core has reached version 1.0! UDS Core is the backbone of […] November 2025 ###### Runtime Security in UDS Core: Standardizing on Falco UDS Core now ships with Falco as the default runtime detection tool, reducing operational complexity and strengthening real-time threat detection in airgapped and egress-limited environments. ###### Pepr 1.0: A Production-Grade Kubernetes Operator and Admission Controller We’re proud to announce Pepr 1.0, a production-grade Kubernetes operator and admission controller that eliminates manual configuration and ensures deterministic automation. October 2025 ###### From Six Months to Two Days: Accelerating ATO for Navy and Beyond In the DoD, Authorization to Operate (ATO) has long been a bottleneck measured in months, not weeks. Defense Unicorns’ Unified Defense Stack (UDS) changes that. By automating compliance evidence… July 2025 ###### Automating Rebuildable Secure Pipelines with Zarf Automate your secure pipelines for Continuous Delivery with Zarf to enhance efficiency and quality in your development process using zarf. June 2025 ###### Airgap Deployments Are Like Camping Off-grid deployment made simple. UDS packages everything your mission needs to run inside an airgapped environment—no Internet, no guesswork. May 2025 ###### Istio Ambient: Simplifying Service Mesh in UDS Core Simplify your service mesh with Istio Ambient and UDS Core—reduce sidecar complexity and deploy secure, scalable solutions in minutes. April 2025 ###### The Strategic Reasons for DevSecOps The ability to deliver fast only matters if it serves purpose. DevSecOps helps you build that secure, strategic advantage—one step at a time. February 2025 ###### UDS: Enable ATO in Days, Not Months UDS simplifies the ATO process with built-in ATO compliance—featuring automated controls, secure CI/CD, and faster approvals in disconnected environments. ###### Why UDS? Integrate Once, Deploy Anywhere. Secure software delivery using UDS’s CI/CD pipeline across air-gapped, disconnected, and tactical systems—supporting zero-trust and compliance. January 2025 ###### US Army Software Factory Drives Modernization in Software Engineering The Army Software Factory is transforming soldiers into software engineers, driving mission-ready innovation with DevSecOps. December 2024 ###### Managing CVEs in Defense Systems for Real-Time Risk Mitigation Stop just identifying vulnerabilities—start managing them. See how UDS Core enables mission-ready vulnerability management and runtime CVE mitigation. October 2024 ###### I’m Too Smart to Make Mistakes Do you make mistakes? Me too. Maybe we just need to learn from others who are smarter than we are. September 2024 ###### Review Board Dramatic Theater Why CABs and ARBs fail: explore how approval boards create risk, waste time, and why shifting left is the path to secure, efficient software delivery. ###### AI is taking our jobs! Explore how GenAI is reshaping software engineering, DevOps, and developer workflows—what’s hype, what’s real, and who’s actually at risk. March 2023 ###### You’re Probably Solving the Wrong Problem If you don’t aim right, you’ll miss. Software supply chain thinking reveals where your dev process is leaking value. --- ### Authorization to Operate Explained Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/authorization-to-operate-explained/ ##### The Authorization to Operate Process for Defense Software Every information system that touches a federal or defense network must earn permission to operate, and that permission is called an Authorization to Operate (ATO). For software teams building for the Department of War (DoW), the ATO process is often the single largest bottleneck between working code and mission impact. This guide breaks down what ATO actually means, walks through the seven steps of the Risk Management Framework that produce it, explains why traditional timelines stretch so long, and shows how continuous ATO fundamentally changes the equation. Whether you are an ISSO preparing a package, an Authorizing Official weighing risk, or a program manager trying to get software to Mission Heroes faster, this guide is written for you. ATO stands for Authorization to Operate, a formal, risk-based authorization decision made by an Authorizing Official (AO) that permits an information system to operate on a government network at an accepted level of risk. It is the output of the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF), defined in NIST SP 800-37. It is not a certification of perfect security. It is a judgment that the system’s controls are sufficient for its operational environment. How long does the ATO process take? Traditional ATO typically takes 6 to 18 months, with some complex systems exceeding two years. Delays come from manual control implementation, extensive documentation, assessment backlogs, and AO review queues. Continuous ATO (cATO) compresses subsequent releases to weeks, or even days, by shifting from point-in-time authorization to ongoing authorization backed by automated monitoring, automated compliance evidence generation, and DevSecOps pipelines. The initial authorization still requires rigorous assessment, but every release after that flows through a continuously monitored, continuously authorized path. ##### What ATO Stands For and What It Means Authorization to Operate is the formal declaration that a system has been assessed against applicable security and privacy requirements and that the risks of operating it have been reviewed and accepted. The decision belongs to the Authorizing Official (AO), a senior leader (typically a general officer, SES, or their designated representative) with the authority to accept risk on behalf of the organization. The AO does not rubber-stamp a checklist. They evaluate the Security Assessment Report (SAR), the System Security Plan (SSP), and the Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) to make a risk-informed judgment. ATO sits within a broader family of authorization decisions: - ATO (Authorization to Operate): Full authorization, typically valid for up to three years, permitting the system to operate in production. - IATT (Interim Authority to Test): A temporary, limited authorization that allows a system to operate in a controlled environment for testing purposes. It does not permit full operational deployment. - Continuous ATO (cATO): An ongoing authorization model, described in the DoD CIO’s DevSecOps continuous authorization guidance, that replaces periodic reauthorization with continuous monitoring, active cyber defense, and DevSecOps practices to sustain authorization across every release. All of these authorization types are products of the NIST RMF. The controls that systems are assessed against come from NIST SP 800-53, which catalogs hundreds of security and privacy controls organized into families such as Access Control (AC), Audit and Accountability (AU), and Configuration Management (CM). The RMF process itself is defined in NIST SP 800-37, and the system categorization methodology follows FIPS 199. Understanding where ATO sits in this standards ecosystem is critical: the RMF is the process, SP 800-53 provides the controls, and ATO is the authorization decision that results. ##### The Seven RMF Steps The RMF is a structured but adaptable seven-step process. While NIST acknowledges that organizations may execute these steps iteratively or in a modified sequence, understanding the canonical flow is essential for any practitioner navigating the ATO process. - Prepare. This foundational step establishes the organizational context for risk management. Teams identify key roles: the AO, the Information System Security Officer (ISSO), the System Owner, and the Security Control Assessor (SCA). They define the organization’s risk tolerance, develop a risk management strategy, and identify common controls that can be inherited across systems. Preparation also includes standing up the monitoring strategy that will be used in Step 7. In practice, this is where many programs underinvest, leading to rework later. Thorough preparation can take weeks to a few months but pays dividends across every subsequent step. - Categorize. The system and the information it processes, stores, and transmits are categorized based on potential impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Using FIPS 199, teams assign a Low, Moderate, or High impact level. A Moderate system, the most common categorization for DoW mission applications, carries significantly more control requirements than a Low system. Categorization drives every downstream decision, so getting it right is non-negotiable. This step typically takes one to three weeks when stakeholders are aligned. - Select. Based on the categorization, teams select a baseline set of security controls from NIST SP 800-53. They then tailor that baseline, adding supplemental controls to address specific risks or applying compensating controls where a standard control cannot be implemented as written. For DoW systems, selection also incorporates STIGs (Security Technical Implementation Guides) and any organization-specific overlays. With clear guidance, control selection can be completed in a few weeks. - Implement. This is where the engineering work happens. Teams implement the selected controls across the system: configuring access controls, enabling audit logging, hardening operating systems, and encrypting data at rest and in transit. Every control implementation must be documented, and the SSP captures how each control is satisfied. For complex systems, implementation can take three to six months or longer, and it is often the most labor-intensive step in the entire process. - Assess. An independent assessor (or assessment team) evaluates whether the implemented controls are functioning as intended and effectively mitigating risk. This includes reviewing documentation, interviewing personnel, testing controls through vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, and validating that the system’s actual configuration matches what the SSP describes. Assessment backlogs are one of the biggest contributors to ATO delays: qualified assessors are in short supply, and the queue for assessment can itself take months. - Authorize. The assessment results are compiled into an authorization package that includes the SSP, the SAR, and the POA&M. This package is presented to the Authorizing Official, who reviews the residual risk and makes the authorization decision. If the risk is acceptable, the AO issues the ATO. If not, the AO may issue a denial or request remediation. The AO review itself can take weeks, depending on the complexity of the findings and the AO’s availability. - Monitor. After authorization, the system enters continuous monitoring: ongoing assessment of a subset of controls, regular vulnerability scanning, configuration management, incident response, and reporting. Monitoring is not optional. It is the mechanism that sustains the authorization. Under a traditional ATO, monitoring runs until the authorization expires (typically three years), at which point the entire process restarts. Under continuous ATO, monitoring is the engine that enables ongoing authorization without periodic reauthorization. ##### How Long Does the ATO Process Take? Traditional ATO takes 6 to 18 months for most defense software systems, and some programs have experienced timelines exceeding two years. The variance depends on system complexity, organizational readiness, assessor availability, and AO capacity. Where does the time actually go? In Defense Unicorns’ experience delivering software to DoW environments, the biggest time sinks are: - Manual control implementation and documentation. Writing and maintaining an SSP for a Moderate-impact system can mean documenting 300+ controls. When done manually, in Word documents and spreadsheets, it is slow, error-prone, and difficult to keep current. - Assessment backlogs. Qualified Security Control Assessors are a scarce resource. Programs frequently wait months just to get on an assessor’s calendar. - AO review queues. Authorizing Officials are senior leaders with broad portfolios. Authorization packages can sit in queue for weeks or months awaiting review. - Reauthorization for changes. Under traditional ATO, major updates can trigger partial or full reauthorization, restarting significant portions of the process. The cumulative effect is that software capable of delivering mission value today may not reach Mission Heroes for a year or more. In a threat environment that evolves in days, that gap is a strategic risk. Continuous ATO compresses the timeline dramatically. After the initial authorization, which still requires rigorous assessment, subsequent releases can be authorized in weeks or even days. The key difference is that continuous monitoring and automated evidence generation replace the manual, point-in-time assessment cycle. The system’s security posture is evaluated continuously, not periodically, and the authorization decision becomes an ongoing one rather than a recurring event. For teams weighing how to make that shift, our case study on accelerating ATO from six months to two days for the Navy and beyond shows what that acceleration looks like in practice. ##### Continuous ATO with UDS The shift from traditional ATO to continuous ATO is not simply a process change. It requires a fundamentally different technical foundation. This is where the Unified Defense Stack (UDS) comes in. UDS automates NIST 800-53 controls and supports continuous ATO across disconnected and air-gapped environments. UDS is a hardened software delivery platform built specifically for defense and national security environments, including air-gapped and disconnected networks. It provides the infrastructure and tooling that make continuous ATO operationally viable by addressing three critical requirements. ###### Automated Compliance Evidence Generation Instead of manually documenting how each NIST 800-53 control is satisfied, UDS generates compliance evidence automatically as part of the software delivery pipeline. When a container image is scanned, a configuration is validated, or an access policy is enforced, the evidence is captured, timestamped, and mapped to the relevant control. This eliminates the months of manual documentation that characterize traditional ATO and ensures the evidence is always current, not a snapshot from six months ago. This is the same principle behind Defense Unicorns’ compliance automation approach: turn evidence into a byproduct of delivery rather than a separate workstream. ###### NIST 800-53 Control Automation UDS automates the implementation of a significant portion of NIST 800-53 controls at the platform level. Controls related to access management, audit logging, configuration management, system integrity, and vulnerability scanning are enforced by the platform itself rather than implemented ad hoc by each application team. This means applications deployed on UDS inherit a substantial control baseline from day one, reducing the per-application authorization burden and ensuring consistent enforcement. ###### Hardened Pipeline for Continuous Delivery UDS includes a secure software factory pipeline that integrates security scanning, SBOM generation, container signing, and policy enforcement into every build. Code moves from commit to production through automated gates that validate security posture at each stage. This is not security as an afterthought. It is security embedded in the delivery process, which is exactly what DoW’s cATO criteria require. The net effect is a shift from point-in-time authorization to ongoing authorization. The initial ATO establishes the baseline. After that, every release flows through the same hardened pipeline, generates the same automated evidence, and is subject to the same continuous monitoring. The AO maintains visibility into the system’s real-time security posture and can make ongoing risk decisions based on current data rather than stale documentation. This is what DoW’s cATO guidance envisions: continuous monitoring of security controls, active cyber defense measures, and adoption of DevSecOps practices, all sustained by a platform purpose-built for the mission. ##### Traditional ATO vs. Continuous ATO | DimensionTraditional ATOContinuous ATO | | Timeline6 to 18 months for initial authorization, and weeks to months for reauthorization on major changesWeeks for initial authorization (with platform-inherited controls), then days for subsequent releases | | CostHigh, with extensive manual documentation, dedicated assessment teams, and repeated reauthorization cyclesLower per-release, because automated evidence generation and inherited controls reduce the marginal cost of each authorization decision | | Security PosturePoint-in-time snapshot. Posture degrades between assessments as configurations drift and new vulnerabilities emergeContinuously validated. Real-time monitoring detects drift and vulnerabilities as they occur | | Update FrequencyInfrequent. Major updates may trigger reauthorization, creating incentives to batch changes and delay releasesContinuous. Every release flows through the authorized pipeline, enabling rapid delivery of patches and features | ##### Practical Guidance If your team is struggling with ATO timelines, the first step is not to shop for a vendor. It is to understand where your process is actually breaking down. Here is what to assess: - Map your current timeline. Break your most recent ATO effort into the seven RMF steps and measure how long each one took. Identify the steps where time was lost to waiting (for assessors, for AO review, for documentation to be completed) versus active work. - Audit your documentation process. If your SSP lives in a Word document and your POA&M is a spreadsheet emailed between stakeholders, you have a documentation problem that no amount of process improvement will fix. Look for opportunities to generate evidence from the systems themselves rather than writing it by hand. - Evaluate your control inheritance. How many of your 300+ controls are being implemented from scratch by each application team? A mature environment provides a platform that satisfies a significant portion of controls at the infrastructure layer, leaving application teams to address only the controls unique to their system. - Assess your monitoring maturity. If your “continuous monitoring” consists of quarterly vulnerability scans and annual control reviews, you are not positioned for continuous ATO. Real continuous monitoring means automated, near-real-time visibility into control effectiveness, configuration state, and vulnerability posture. - Understand your AO’s risk appetite. Some AOs are open to ongoing authorization models, and others are not. Knowing where your AO stands, and what evidence they need to feel confident in a continuous authorization decision, is essential before investing in a cATO approach. What “good” looks like: a platform that inherits the majority of 800-53 controls, a pipeline that generates compliance evidence automatically with every build, continuous monitoring that provides real-time posture visibility, and an AO who receives a living authorization package rather than a static binder. Teams operating in this model spend their time building mission software, not writing security documentation. The authorization process becomes a byproduct of good engineering practice rather than a separate, adversarial workstream. The goal is not to eliminate rigor. It is to automate it. Every control still matters. Every risk decision still belongs to the AO. But the machinery that produces the evidence, enforces the controls, and sustains the authorization should run at the speed of software delivery, not the speed of paperwork. Platforms such as UDS are designed to fulfill these criteria. --- ### Announcing UDS Core 1.0 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/announcing-uds-core-1-0/ After years of enabling warfighting missions, Defense Unicorns is proud to announce that [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] UDS Core has reached version 1.0! UDS Core is the backbone of mission environments across DOW service branches, solving some of the most difficult IT problems to get software capabilities into the hands of warfighters. It’s the foundation of our secure, portable, airgap-native UDS platform, which we purpose-built to make installing and updating software on military systems fast and easy. What does reaching “version 1.0” mean? This engineering nomenclature is called “semantic versioning,” and it’s, well… semantic! And, somewhat subjective. UDS Core crossing the 1.0 threshold indicates that breaking changes to UDS Core ( [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/runtime-security-in-uds-core-standardizing-on-falco/] like switching from NeuVector to Falco) will be much less frequent. However, our engineers will continue to improve UDS Core, and if major changes are needed in the future, the major version will be incremented accordingly. Declaring “1.0” does not mean that UDS Core was immature up to this point. Quite the contrary! Defense Unicorns has been using UDS Core in production systems for years, and as of this blog post, we support over 50 mission systems, almost 300 applications, and nearly 100,000 mission users. To celebrate this engineering milestone, let’s take a quick journey back in time to see how UDS Core came into existence… Unicorn Origins Starting around 2017, several revolutionary software programs were born within the DoD. The founders of Defense Unicorns helped birth organizations like Kessel Run, Platform One, and Space CAMP, to name a few. Jeff McCoy, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Defense Unicorns, is credited with building much of the technology behind these organizations. At the end of his tenure in government positions, he left having learned an important lesson that the DOW is now running with full steam ahead: The government cannot compete with the speed and talent of the commercial industry, especially when solving repeatable problems. Through its early years, Defense Unicorns iterated on the success of Platform One by contributing to its Big Bang platform and spinning off our own “Defense Unicorns Big Bang Distro,” which we dubbed “DUBBD.” Ultimately, by leveraging the speed of commercial development, the talent of the open source community, and backed with venture capital funding, Defense Unicorns built a new and better platform: Unified Defense Stack (UDS). UDS is an ecosystem of software delivery capabilities built on the open source foundation of UDS Core, which we’re celebrating today. UDS Core took evolutionary steps in platform capabilities by using one of our open source projects, [Link: https://pepr.dev/] Pepr, which serves as a Kubernetes operator to automate and simplify the most difficult parts of platform operations. In the words of one of our military users describing UDS, “It’s the only thing I’ve ever used that just works.” What Does UDS Core Do? Before we answer the question of what UDS Core does, let’s look at a few things. First, everyone’s favorite piece of literature: NIST SP 800-53. DOW environments, for good reason, have a long list of security requirements they must comply with. These requirements are called security controls, and for software to run in a mission system, it pretty much has to meet all of them. Are security controls exciting? Nay. To most people, they’re brutally boring, but not to us! We grew tired of watching the defense industry pay way too much to recreate the compliance wheel over and over, so we built our UDS platform to meet the majority of those NIST SP 800-53 controls out of the box, significantly reducing the timeline for military systems to receive the essential Authorization To Operate (ATO). Next, let’s look at another unique aspect of national security environments, our special friend: The Airgap. An airgapped network is one that is disconnected from the open Internet, which is a common state for DOW mission systems. What’s the problem with being airgapped? Since the inception of the Internet, nearly all network and platform components are built to expect consistent Internet connectivity for access to resources and services. So what have military systems done historically? Similar to the compliance problem, organizations have spent far too much time and money manually configuring systems over and over again to work in the airgap. UDS Core solves this challenge with another one of our open source projects, [Link: https://zarf.dev/] Zarf, an airgap-native package manager for Kubernetes. The last issue we will discuss before explaining what makes UDS Core so special is a problem with many solutions for the DOW: Vendor Lock. Vendor lock is the core fear that has driven the DOW to recreate the wheel again and again. Who wants to be in the middle of a battle and discover that the vendor creating your mission software has had a change of heart and removed your access? For the sake of national security, buying commercial software must also avoid vendor lock-in. This is why Defense Unicorns believes in open source technology and why UDS Core is fully open source. UDS Core solves all of these problems that have plagued the DOW, and it does so in a repeatable way. UDS Core is the runtime platform layer of the UDS ecosystem. It gives every application deployed on top of it a consistent, secure, and compliance-ready operating environment, so platform engineers do not have to rebuild those concerns for each project. UDS Core is the secure foundation your applications run on. It provides shared platform services: identity, networking, logging, monitoring, runtime security, and more, with hardened defaults, and integrates those services automatically with applications that declare their needs through the UDS Package custom resource. UDS Core is designed for the world’s most critical environments. What’s Next for UDS Core? We will continue to improve UDS Core, making it faster, more efficient, and easier to use. Missions are rapidly changing and deserve the military’s full focus. We need to stop distracting ourselves with the same platform runtime problems. Use UDS, it just works. To learn more about UDS Core and try it yourself, explore the documentation at [Link: https://docs.defenseunicorns.com/] docs.defenseunicorns.com --- ### Pepr 1.0: Kubernetes Automation Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/pepr-1-0-a-production-grade-kubernetes-operator-and-admission-controller/ At Defense Unicorns, we’re not just integrators; we’re builders. When our engineers recognized the need for a better Kubernetes operator and admission controller, we began building Pepr as an open-source project in early 2023. Fast-forward to today, and we’re proud to announce the release of Pepr version 1.0! ##### What is Pepr? Pepr is a set of building blocks for automating how Kubernetes behaves, making it easier to enforce rules and manage what happens in a Kubernetes cluster. You can think of it as a cross between Operator SDK and Kyverno, combining the automation of Operators with policy control in a single TypeScript-based framework. Instead of manually managing thousands of YAML knobs, switches, and configuration files every time you deploy an application, you program that logic once into a Pepr module. The automation eliminates many of the manual steps that slow teams down, things like configuration policies, wiring integrations, managing observability, and securing workloads. With Pepr, tasks like that can be automated, reducing integration time down to minutes and ensuring every deployment meets security and compliance standards by default. ##### Eliminating Configuration Fatigue From then on, every configuration is consistent, automatic, and repeatable—no matter how many times you deploy, no matter who is deploying. That means: - No fatigue from reapplying the same policies by hand. - No drift caused by inconsistent human execution. - Every workload is deployed with the same rigor, speed, and security. Pepr turns what used to be an endless checklist of manual configurations into deterministic automation baked into the Kubernetes cluster. ##### Why We Made Pepr Building operators and admission controllers the traditional way often means dropping down into client-go or heavy frameworks. That involves writing tons of low-level Go code just to make Kubernetes listen and respond the way you want. It requires a deep understanding of Kubernetes internals and a lot of boilerplate just to get started. With Pepr, we’ve changed the model: - If you can do it with kubectl or a Kubernetes manifest, you can do it in Pepr. - Instead of writing low-level Go code, you express intent in fluent TypeScript, mapping directly to the operations and policies you already know. - Pepr takes care of the scaffolding: it generates manifests, webhook configurations, certs, and RBAC automatically. - You don’t need to be a client-go expert to write a controller. You just focus on the Kubernetes behaviors you want, and Pepr ensures they are automated, repeatable, and resistant to error. ##### Why Pepr 1.0 is a Significant Milestone Pepr has been stable, battle-tested, and running in production since its early releases. Version 1.0 isn’t about reaching stability, it’s about recognizing it. With over 150 releases since late 2023 and proven use at scale in mission-critical systems as part of UDS Core, Pepr has demonstrated its ability to handle real-world demands. This 1.0 release marks a commitment to maturity and predictability: a stable API surface, semantic versioning for consumers, and clear expectations for how future changes are introduced, allowing teams to build with confidence. ##### What Makes Pepr Special ###### Custom informer system with reconcile queues Pepr tracks and reacts to changes in Kubernetes resources using its own lightweight informer layer. This means faster, more efficient event handling without relying on external controllers, enabling real-time, predictable automation. ###### Built-in scheduler and ETCD-backed store for stateful automation Pepr includes a simple scheduler and uses ETCD to persist data between events. Your automations can retain state and timing across restarts or across multiple replicas, making it easy to build reliable stateful workflows. ###### Support for advanced Kubernetes features Pepr natively supports deeper parts of the Kubernetes API, including subresources (Proxy, Scale), status, finalize, and log streaming. You can scale, cleanup with finalizers, stream logs, and handle proxy requests, all without needing to dig into low-level client-go code. ###### Deterministic automation Once your logic is written, Pepr ensures it runs exactly the same way every time. This eliminates “it worked on my dev machine” and human error/fatigue scenarios, with automation behaving identically across clusters. ##### Get Started with Pepr Ready to eliminate configuration drift and automate your Kubernetes workflows? Visit the [Link: https://pepr.dev/] Pepr documentation to learn more, or check out the project on [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/pepr] GitHub. For questions or support, reach out to us at hello@defenseunicorns.com. ###### About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a service-disabled veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Learn more at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] https://defenseunicorns.com. --- ### Navy ATO: From Six Months to Two Days Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/from-six-months-to-two-days-accelerating-ato-for-navy-and-beyond/ “Do you have an ATO?” This is one of the first, and most crucial, questions a software company faces when meeting with the War Department. And the answer they provide often determines if a program moves forward with the government or stalls. For years, the Authorization to Operate (ATO) process in the War Department has been measured in months, not weeks. Twelve months or more for a single approval is the norm. These delays leave warfighters without critical capabilities… and programs carrying unnecessary risk. Across the defense industrial base and other regulated sectors like aerospace, energy, and critical infrastructure, the problem looks different but feels the same: compliance reviews and security sign-offs that grind delivery to a halt, keeping features and fixes out of production while risks compound. Whether in the cloud, afloat, or ashore, the bottleneck has been clear: the ATO process itself. But Defense Unicorns’ Unified Defense Stack (UDS) radically accelerates authorization by automating the evidence, security, and consistency that Authorizing Officials (AOs) depend on. ##### Breaking the Bottleneck with UDS Instead of treating security as a checkpoint at the end of the pipeline, UDS bakes compliance into every stage of development and delivery, accelerating the path to an ATO. Automated evidence creation: CI/CD pipelines generate the body of evidence AOs need to grant or update an ATO quickly. Integrated security scanning: Vulnerability scans, SBOMs, and container signing happen automatically, not as a last-minute scramble before an ATO package is submitted. Immutable, declarative baselines: UDS and software packages are declaratively provisioned as immutable objects, so AOs know and trust what is running in their environment. Airgap-Native: With Zarf, the open-source package manager, even disconnected and classified environments can receive secure updates that preserve ATO integrity. The result: A process that empowers Information System Security Managers (ISSMs) and AOs to act on real-time data, not months-old paperwork. ##### Proof in Practice: Two Days vs. Six Months A NAVSEA team that adopted DevSecOps standards and UDS reduced application upgrade approvals from a historical six-month cycle to under two days, culminating in 13 updates to a production environment over a nine-month period. The difference wasn’t more manpower. It was automation, alignment, and trust: - UDS Dev/Test environment with declarative CI/CD pipelines implementing the Certificate to Ship (CtS) processes. - UDS platform services mapped to required NIST SP 800-53 controls. - COTS, GOTS, and Open-Source Software inherit security controls from UDS, reducing rework and duplication. This is ATO acceleration in action: secure, compliant, and dramatically faster. ##### What’s at Stake: Losses and Gains Slow ATOs carry real costs: War Department: Ballooning budgets. Lost decision advantage in contested environments. Vulnerabilities linger unpatched. Warfighters wait months for tools they need today. Business: Programs stall. Market opportunities slip. Competitors move faster. Security gaps widen. Expenses rise. Small businesses fail. Accelerated ATOs with Defense Unicorns deliver clear gains: Budget: Low cost of compliance with reusable authorized components and automated evidence. Speed: Approvals in weeks, not years. Security: Continuous scanning, signed containers, and SBOMs built into every release. Agility: Deploy to the platform of your choice — from cloud to shipboard edge — without rework. Confidence: Compliance evidence and immutable software baselines generated automatically, always current, always ready. ##### UDS Powers RPOCs For the Navy, RPOC (RAISE Platform of Choice) is the designation that ensures the agile delivery of containerized applications across platforms and environments once approved. It is, at heart, the continuous ATO (cATO) implementation strategy for the Department. In conversations across the fleet, we’re hearing the same question again and again: “Is your solution an RPOC?” The answer is yes. Defense Unicorns’ UDS platform and open-source innovations like Zarf and Pepr align directly with the Navy’s RAISE 2.0 framework. That means: - Software and platform portability from cloud to shipboard edge environments. - Inheritable security controls and evidence that satisfy RPOC requirements. - Flexibility to run where the mission or your business requires. For the Navy, that means confidence with their investments aligning to Department priorities. For enterprises, it means a delivery model that scales securely. ##### How RPOC Extends ATO Acceleration At its core, RPOC isn’t a separate initiative. It’s an extension of the same push to accelerate ATO and software delivery. The Navy designed RPOC to ensure that once software is approved, it can move quickly across environments without restarting the authorization process from scratch: Shared controls: The same vulnerability scans, SBOMs, and container signing that enable faster approvals are the foundation of RPOC compliance. Portability of trust: With RPOC, authorizations don’t just move faster; they move farther, following the application from cloud to shipboard edge. Reduced duplication: Instead of programs re-running the same security reviews in different enclaves, inheritable controls streamline the path. For Defense Unicorns, this alignment isn’t hypothetical. UDS delivers the automation, open-source tools, and DevSecOps pipelines that make RPOC possible… and in turn, RPOC enables the ATO acceleration programs need. ##### The Defense Unicorns Difference Defense Unicorns has already proven acceleration in the field, reducing Navy software approvals from six months to just two days or less. We’re not just users of open-source tools. We build them, including Zarf and Pepr, which are now part of our RPOC implementation playbook. And because our approach works across domains, from enterprises to submarines, customers gain a delivery model that is both faster and more secure, wherever their software runs. ##### Let’s Talk For defense leaders, this is about getting to an ATO faster and putting software into Sailors’ hands sooner. For commercial innovators, it’s about adopting practices sharpened by the most demanding customer in the world. If you’re ready to accelerate your ATO from months to weeks, Defense Unicorns is ready to help, supporting warfighters where it matters most. --- ### UDS: Enable ATO in Days, Not Months Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-enable-ato-in-days-not-months/ We’ve all been there. You’ve got an incredible mission-critical capability ready to deploy—but then reality hits: the dreaded Authority to Operate (ATO) process. You brace yourself for endless documentation, multiple rounds of painful reviews, and repetitive compliance checks. In the DoD and other highly regulated environments, it’s a story that plays out far too often. ATO processes stretch into months—sometimes even years—stalling crucial deployments, straining resources, and frankly, making everyone wonder: “How did it get this painful?” [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/blog/uds-secure-software-delivery] UDS was designed specifically to rewrite this narrative. Let’s talk through why this matters and how it will change your day-to-day operations, your budget, and, most importantly, your mission outcomes. ##### The Old Way: Why Traditional ATO Processes Hurt the Mission Before we jump into how UDS fixes this, let’s acknowledge exactly what’s at stake when ATO documentation drags on: - Redundant Documentation: Compliance data is duplicated across countless environments, consuming your team’s time and energy. - Painful, Lengthy Reviews: Authorizing Officials drown in unclear documentation, resulting in endless back-and-forth. - Operational Delays: Software updates—critical to mission success—are delayed, impacting operational readiness, agility, and sometimes even mission success itself. It’s more than paperwork: prolonged ATO processes have a measurable, negative impact on the warfighter and the mission itself. Simply put, we can’t afford this anymore. ##### The New Way: How UDS Changes the Game Enter [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/] UDS—built from day one as an airgap-native platform designed explicitly for DoD environments. UDS transforms software delivery, embedding compliance directly into the pipeline, [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-enable-ato-in-days-not-months/] reducing ATO timelines from months (or years) down to just days. Here’s how UDS cuts through bureaucratic red tape: ###### 1. Declarative Compliance—Say Goodbye to Endless NIST Paper Trails Traditional compliance approaches mean manually addressing every technical control specified in NIST 800-53—a painstaking task. UDS solves this by automatically addressing over 90% of these technical controls out-of-the-box, particularly for Impact Levels 4 and 5. What does this mean practically? It means less paperwork, less guesswork, and more time focusing on the mission. ###### 2. Dedication to Zero CVE Posture—Proactive Security, Always-On One of the biggest hurdles to an ATO is ensuring software has low critical vulnerabilities (CVEs). Maintaining this state manually is a constant, exhausting battle. UDS simplifies this process while maintaining a dedication to zero Critical/High CVE posture with proactive security measures. Your systems remain audit-ready, so you can breathe easy knowing security vulnerabilities are constantly identified and resolved. ###### 3. Comprehensive SBOMs—Total Visibility, Zero Guesswork In an airgap-native deployment, tracking software components isn’t optional—it’s mission-essential. UDS includes a detailed, accurate Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) with each software bundle, clarifying exactly what’s in your environment. This significantly streamlines your validation efforts during ATO compliance reviews. No more surprises, no more audits filled with frantic phone calls—just clarity and confidence. ###### 4. Continuous Validation & Monitoring—Ready Around the Clock Compliance isn’t something you check once and forget. Traditional approaches scramble just before an audit, playing catch-up at the worst possible times. UDS flips this around: continuous monitoring and validation are built-in from the start. You’re never in scramble-mode again. Instead, you’re always confident and ready, meeting DoD standards proactively—every single day. ###### 5. Streamlined Reviews—Get It Right the First Time Let’s face it: Authorizing Officials want clear, standardized documentation—documents that actually make sense. UDS provides exactly this. No more multiple revisions or last-minute document scrambles. With UDS, your security documentation passes smoothly, simply, and quickly. ##### What This Means for Your Mission and Your Team Reducing your ATO process from months to days isn’t just about saving time; it’s about transforming operational effectiveness and mission agility. Here’s the real-world impact: - Rapid Deployment: Accelerate your software releases to the warfighter. Imagine delivering capabilities within days—not months or years. - Cost Predictability: Firm-Fixed-Price outcomes mean no more budget overruns or endless bills for man-hours. Pay for results, not “butts-in-seats.” - Operational Resilience: Decentralized deployment and portability mean your systems remain mission-ready—no matter where they’re deployed. Cloud, on-prem, tactical edge? Covered. - Focus & Agility: Your team spends less time bogged down in administrative burdens and more time innovating, securing, and delivering critical capabilities. In short, faster ATO approvals mean getting back to the mission and empowering your teams to do what they joined the mission to do. ##### Ready to Experience Rapid ATOs? The reality is clear: Traditional approaches to ATO aren’t just outdated—they actively hinder mission success. UDS is changing this narrative, and the results speak for themselves. UDS takes the pain out of ATO compliance, ensuring your team remains agile, secure, and fully focused on the mission. If you’re ready to transform your software delivery, streamline your path to ATO, and reclaim mission-critical agility, [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] let’s talk. --- ### Why UDS? Integrate Once, Deploy Anywhere. Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/why-uds-integrate-once-deploy-anywhere/ Secure software delivery across the Department of Defense (DoD) has long been a mission-critical challenge. Disconnected environments, redundant integration steps, and endless troubleshooting cycles delay deployments and erode trust in the process. What works in a Software Integration Lab (SIL) often fails in production, forcing teams to spend months—or even years—solving problems that should’ve never existed. ##### The Cost of Fragile Integration in Secure Software Delivery Imagine a cyber defense system developed in a lab, thoroughly tested, and approved—only to fail on an operational network due to mismatched configurations. Teams scramble to troubleshoot, delaying mission readiness. These integration failures don’t just waste months of time and millions of dollars—in critical operations, they can cost lives. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/] UDS transforms secure software delivery for the DoD. From [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-enable-ato-in-days-not-months/] accelerating ATOs to ensuring seamless air-gapped deployment, we’ll break down why UDS is the future of mission software—starting with how it eliminates integration headaches. UDS fixes this. ##### One Integration = Infinite Deployments With UDS, you integrate your software once—and deploy it everywhere. Whether you’re in the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-enterprise/] cloud, on-prem, or operating at the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/] tactical edge, UDS ensures your software runs exactly the same across all environments. ✅ The same platform runs in your local dev instance, your SIL, and your production environment. ✅ No more separate integration cycles—what works in one environment works in all. ✅ Faster deployments, less technical debt, and no need to re-engineer software for every system. ##### How UDS Standardizes Secure Software Delivery Traditional DoD software delivery relies on environment-specific configurations, meaning the same application must be tested and integrated separately for each deployment. ###### UDS eliminates this friction by - Declarative Configuration – Ensuring software is deployed with the same dependencies, settings, and security controls across all environments. - Portable Packaging – Bundling applications, configurations, and dependencies together, guaranteeing consistency from development to SIL to production. - Airgap-Native Delivery – Enabling deployment even in fully disconnected environments. 🚀 The result? A mission-ready, secure software package that deploys identically across all environments—eliminating redundant integration steps and reducing deployment risks. ##### Air-Gapped and Tactical-Ready by Design Most software delivery platforms struggle the most with disconnected, semi-connected, and classified environments. UDS is airgap-native—built from the ground up for these exact challenges. Whether your mission operates from [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] a submarine, a forward operating base, or an aircraft in flight, UDS ensures your software arrives securely and functions flawlessly—even without internet access. Gone are the days of “It works on my machine… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ” With UDS, it works everywhere, from day one. ##### The Impact of UDS on Your Mission ✅ Time Savings – Deployments that previously took months are reduced to minutes, ensuring teams can respond rapidly to mission needs. ✅ Cost Reduction – Eliminating redundant integration efforts saves millions in engineering time and infrastructure costs. ✅ Security Assurance – UDS maintains a dedication to [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/blog/mission-ready-vulnerability-management] zero CVE posture with continuous monitoring, reducing the attack surface and ensuring compliance across all deployments. With UDS, teams spend less time troubleshooting and more time executing the mission. ##### What’s Next? This is just the beginning. In our [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-enable-ato-in-days-not-months/] next post, we’ll dive into how UDS accelerates ATO approvals and keeps mission software secure—without adding bureaucratic roadblocks. 👉 Want to see UDS in action? Learn more here: [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/] https://defenseunicorns.com/uds-premium --- ### The Strategic Reasons for DevSecOps Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/the-strategic-reasons-for-devsecops/ I have scars from spending decades in the trenches delivering enterprise systems, mostly with dramatic installations and sleepless nights. You’ve not lived until you’ve experienced phantom pager syndrome, where you feel it vibrating even when you don’t have it. Or the horror of forgetting it was your week to carry the pager until a teammate handed it to you. I’ve also experienced the benefits of fixing the causes of that pain by moving to continuous delivery. Along the way, I had several “ah-ha” moments and rediscovered the joy of delivering software. I learned that relentlessly shrinking batch size and [Link: https://bdfinst.medium.com/building-team-maturity-using-continuous-delivery-c3a55676a698] accelerating delivery frequency was the most effective way to expose problems so we could fix them. The big “ah-ha” for me was when I understood that CD isn’t about delivering features faster; it’s about mission readiness and the ability to respond to real-world events. A team that uses CD will have the muscle memory and refined processes to react safely to the unexpected. They can take advantage of opportunities that less evolved teams cannot. Having teams that operate this way is a strategic advantage for any competitive organization. However, those teams can only function this way within the broader operating model of DevSecOps because that provides the cultural and mission alignment required for multiple teams to move harmoniously. Note: DevOps and DevSecOps are the same thing, and I use them interchangeably. DevSecOps was coined to emphasize that security is important to DevOps, but that’s always been true because it’s about the efficient delivery of value, and insecure systems aren’t valuable. ##### That’s Not DevSecOps No conversation about DevSecOps is helpful until we define our terms. Unfortunately, when something comes along that makes things better but also requires skill and effort to implement, someone will try to package and sell it as something that takes less effort and skill while also neutering it. DevSecOps is no different. It’s not: - a “DevSecOps team” staffed with “DevSecOps Engineers” who configure pipelines for other teams. That creates another handoff with wait times and delays and is the antithesis of DevSecOps. - an application support team that eats the pain of crappy development. DevSecOps advocates “you build it, you run it.” - a release management team. The team doing the work should be designing for release. - a platform team. Self-service platforms are critical but only a small part of DevSecOps. So, what is it? It depends on whom you ask. If you want a deep dive, you can check out this [Link: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/introduction-to-devsecops-for-managers-lfs180/] free course by the Linux Foundation. Comparing it to the Toyota Production System isn’t inaccurate. In The Phoenix Project, Gene Kim describes three core behaviors: systems thinking, amplifying feedback loops, and continuous improvement. Those are also very important. In 2015, Donovan Brown from Microsoft coined the most comprehensive description I’ve found: > DevOps is the union of people, process, and products to enable the continuous delivery of value to our end users. DevOps is how we organize workflow and team structure, measure effectiveness, improve efficiency, amplify feedback, and approach our improvement process. ##### CD is Not For Cat Videos One of my favorite pushbacks is, “We are doing something important, not social media or e-commerce.” They don’t understand risk. The more critical something is, the more important it is that we have a safe, fast process to respond to any incident at any time. DevSecOps is how we build that response capability. ###### CD Saving Lives In February 2022, Starlink was activated in Ukraine to maintain battlefield communications. Immediately afterward, Russia began efforts to jam Starlink in the area. Within hours of being jammed, Starlink deployed a software update to bypass the jamming. This didn’t require heroics and hacky workarounds. It only needed SpaceX to use their standard way of working. ###### Fighting the Current War, Not the Last One Historically, the US Navy is the most conservative branch of the US military. Ships are complex systems, and the ocean is not a friendly operating environment, even when not in a war zone. Hardware and software improvements to Navy ships have been treated the same way. Every 3 years, the ship spends 6 to 12 months in a maintenance cycle. All changes are made during that time. Today, with programs like [Link: https://spacesecurity.wse.jhu.edu/2024/06/17/staying-in-the-fight-us-navy-adapts-with-over-the-air-updates/] Aegis Speed to Capability, ship systems can be updated over the air in a combat zone. This has become a critical capability when faced with evolving threats such as the missile attacks in the Persian Gulf. Today, the Navy can analyze the data from new threats to define improvements, develop the updates, and release them within days or weeks instead of years. Amplifying feedback and building the ability to respond is saving lives. ##### You Can’t Buy DevSecOps It’s tempting to believe anyone with deep enough pockets can buy the ability to respond at the speed of need, and many people try. However, remember that “products” account for only 33% of the DevSecOps definition and an even smaller percentage of the problem. ###### It’s How You Use The Tools Military history can teach us quite a bit, not least that people often matter more than the tools at their disposal. In 1941, Japan declared war on the US. The US Navy entered the war with its state-of-the-art carrier-based fighter, the F4F-3 Wildcat, to counter Japan’s newest naval fighter, the A6M Zero. On paper, the Japanese had all the advantages in air superiority at sea. | IJN – A6MUSN – F4F | | Range✅ | | Speed✅ | | Climb Rate✅ | | Turn Rate✅ | | Acceleration✅ | | Dive Rate✅ | The Wildcat was faster in a dive, so if it had altitude and enough distance, it could run away. In addition, the pre-war IJN’s pilot training was longer and more intense than the USN’s, and Japan had been at war since 1937, so it had more experienced pilots. The Japanese advantages resulted in a brutal kill ratio of three US planes lost for every Japanese plane. Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Thatch, commander of the USS Saratoga’s fighter wing, found a way to work around the weaknesses of his tools: the [Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thach_Weave] Thatch Weave. With the Thatch Weave, US pilots used disciplined teamwork to counter the Japanese aircraft’s advantages and even the odds from 3:1 to 1:1. When more advanced US fighters made it to the fleet, the better tools only enhanced the skills they’d learned, ultimately leading to more than 6:1 in the US’s favor. Achieving that level of discipline was possible because every squadron was a cohesive unit with a defined mission that practiced for that mission constantly. They were not a jumble of pilots thrown together just before a fight. A proper development team isn’t a group of coders thrown together to deliver a project—it’s a highly cohesive team of mission specialists who know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to work together to maximize the former and help each other with the latter. They own the problems, the solutions, and the outcomes. They work daily, delivering features to refine their development and quality processes. This establishes the habits that allow them to respond when needed without drama. ###### Responding to Failure A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Thunderbirds at Nellis AFB to photograph a training sortie. I’d heard that the Thunderbirds trained like every day was show day, and I was not disappointed. They performed the same duties they would for an airshow when only launching two planes for training. Since only a subset of the team was required to launch two planes, why were they all there? Teamwork and muscle memory. Notice the names on the plane. Those are the enlisted airmen who are responsible for that plane. It’s their plane, not the pilot’s. While performing pre-flight on Thunderbird 1, something went wrong. There was no panicking, just troubleshooting followed by the decision to down-check the plane and use the backup. They warmed up Thunderbird 6 and continued the mission. Their Mean Time To Restore (MTTR) was about 10 minutes because they practice for the unexpected. ##### Building the Strategic Capability We must build the people and the process to leverage the products properly. There’s a well-known quote from Gene Kim in the DevSecOps community: “Improving daily work is more important than doing daily work.” That’s true. When we treat daily work as an opportunity to improve our ability to respond, not just to get things done, we build systems and teams that are resilient to the unexpected. We don’t rely on theory or hope but on discipline and practice. The most effective way I’ve found to build those teams is to solve the problems that prevent continuous delivery. ###### Architect for Teamwork First, we need the right team structures. It’s not uncommon for teams to be organized around delivering features, where multiple teams share a backlog of features and work on the same code. [Link: https://bdfinst.medium.com/5-minute-devops-feature-team-strawman-fallacy-d8056c95d31c] This is tempting to do for maximizing team utilization, but it destroys any sense of ownership, harms quality, and harms the system architecture. Teams should be organized around business capabilities, with each team having sole ownership of a portion of the system while being loosely coupled to other portions of the system. This may require evolving the system architecture along with realigning teams. [Link: https://www.infoq.com/articles/replace-process-dogma-engineering/] I’ve been on that journey, and it’s not something a legacy system can achieve overnight. However, if we have a critical system that must respond quickly, we cannot do it if we are organized around large, slow changes or teams that are tightly coupled. ###### Use CI to Teach CI Once we have our teams in place, we can build the habits. CI is defined as developers merging code changes very frequently into a shared repository, typically several times a day per developer. Each integration is automatically verified by building the application and running automated tests to detect integration errors as quickly as possible. Executing a CI workflow requires both individual skill and teamwork. The fastest way to grow both is to fail at CI and fix what doesn’t work. There are no valid “reasons” a team cannot use CI; there are only excuses or problems to be fixed. Focusing our improvement efforts on “why can’t we CI?” effectively exposes issues with process and training. The most common issues are: - Vague acceptance criteria with no testable outcomes - Lack of testing knowledge - Lack of experience with decomposing work - Lack of understanding of evolutionary development - Work habits and incentives that focus on individual output rather than team goals. As we find and resolve these problems, we improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our work and grow as individuals and as a team. The next step is fixing organizational speed bumps by asking, “Why can’t we deliver today’s work today?” ###### Fix the Surrounding Environment Many people view software development as a linear process, involving the definition of requirements, coding, testing, authorization, and deployment. Classically, each of these steps is done by a different functional silo, and the entire process can take weeks or months. In the meantime, the people who need a solution must wait, and feedback on fitness for purpose is nonexistent, since that only comes from the end users. Reality is far messier than this clean, linear flow of work. The first issue is that we aren’t “done” when we deliver. There’s still operations to consider. We are “done” when we delete the code. In addition, the flow of work through those silos results in misunderstandings, long wait times, misaligned goals, rework, frustration, and sometimes even abandonment of the effort because the solution is no longer relevant. ###### Optimize For Reaction, Not Projects Instead of designing our processes for the eventual delivery of large batches of features, we need to design them to respond safely to an emergency. Being able to deploy quickly isn’t enough. We need exactly one way to deliver any kind of change, so we never bypass our controls. By applying the offsetting forces of “respond quickly” and “do it safely,” we are forced to confront the problems in our current validation processes that may not have felt like problems before. Do we require external approvals, manual testing, security reviews, or < SHUDDER > a release train to deploy a feature? Will we do these while responding to a critical incident? If not, we need to fix our quality process. - If a process exists to make people feel better, eliminate it. CAB is a good example. It gives people the illusion of control and risk reduction while encouraging larger batches of work, which in turn leads to increased risk. - Are there compliance rules or checklists? Automate them. My favorite example is “no one person should be able to change production.” We can automate this control and prevent it from happening instead of reporting it in an audit later. Prevention is always better than detection. - Some tests, such as exploratory tests and usability tests, require humans to execute. Move them from the delivery critical path and do them continuously. Identify every validation that must happen to certify that an artifact is deliverable and automate it in the pipeline. Then, instead of validating artifacts, validate that the pipeline emits compliant artifacts. ###### Production-like Test Environments We should always test under conditions that closely mirror production. To do this effectively, we need test environments that are repeatable, ephemeral, and on-demand, while still adhering to our security and compliance standards. Ideally, these environments are built from immutable, version-controlled artifacts, ensuring consistency and traceability across deployments. Tools like Defense Unicorns’ [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/] Unified Defense Stack (UDS) make this process seamless by automating the creation of such environments. By leveraging solutions like UDS, teams can spin up production-like environments at will, minimizing configuration drift and eliminating surprises during deployment. This approach not only enhances test fidelity but also supports faster, more confident releases by ensuring that “it works on my machine” becomes “it works in production.” ###### Continuous Feedback and Improvement Things will go wrong. Instead of pretending we can eliminate all defects before delivery, we focus on building confidence through rapid, incremental changes and developing a resilient system that can detect, respond to, and learn from failure quickly. CD practices emphasize frequent, small, and reversible changes. When something breaks, it does it in a controlled and understandable manner. This minimizes blast radius and makes root cause analysis faster and less disruptive. The goal isn’t zero defects — it’s to reduce the time and cost of addressing them. Every failure is an opportunity to improve. We treat incidents as signals, using them to strengthen our pipelines, infrastructure, and processes. These are not just technical fixes but systemic reinforcements that increase delivery confidence over time. It’s critical we do this without compromising how quickly we can deliver. CD relies on tight feedback loops, whether through automated tests, canary releases, or production monitoring. Instead of slowing down to achieve illusory perfection, we embrace rapid iteration as a path to both speed and stability. In this way, Continuous Delivery isn’t just about shipping software frequently, it’s about creating a culture of continuous learning, adaptation, and resilience. That’s the essence of DevSecOps. ##### It’s Too Late To Start After It’s Needed DevSecOps isn’t some trendy buzzword or a new role. It’s how we optimize our work to align everyone required to deliver our mission goals. It’s how we improve the flow of communication and put guardrails in place to reduce error. It’s the operational environment needed to reduce risk and respond at the speed of threat. Continuous delivery is the daily practice we use to train and validate that ability when it’s not an emergency so we have the ability when it matters. > We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training. — Archilochus, 650 BC --- ### Managing CVEs in Defense Systems Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/managing-cves-in-defense-systems-for-real-time-risk-mitigation/ Modern defense operations rely heavily on software, making vulnerability management a critical concern. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) are a scoring system for tracking those pesky bugs that can undermine software security. Bugs are a reality in even the most widely used tools across the Department of Defense (DoD). Instead of just scanning for these vulnerabilities and filing them away as risks, we at Defense Unicorns focus on what matters most: reducing the real-world impact of CVEs and ensuring systems stay mission-ready through proactive vulnerability management. ##### Rethinking the CVE Problem: From Theoretical to Practical Not all vulnerabilities are created equal. Sure, a CVE may technically be a “high risk,” but the actual likelihood of it being exploited depends on context. For instance, think of a safe buried under your house with $1 million inside. Technically, it’s vulnerable to theft. But getting to it requires digging up the house, cracking the safe, and bypassing security systems—a practical improbability. Similarly, at Defense Unicorns, our tools like [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/] UDS apply a layered vulnerability management strategy to software, reducing their exploitability. By using technologies like service meshes, runtime scans, and proactive configurations, we shield applications so effectively that most CVEs never pose a meaningful threat. ##### A Layered Approach to Vulnerability Management with UDS One major challenge in the DoD software ecosystem is how vulnerabilities are traditionally managed. Many teams rely on scans performed during development or build stages, with little follow-through during actual operations. That’s like locking your doors before leaving for vacation but leaving your windows open. UDS flips this approach by extending protection into the runtime. Vulnerabilities aren’t just identified during builds; they’re actively managed as part of a continuous vulnerability management lifecycle. Consider [Link: https://www.sonarsource.com/] SonarQube, where a CVE allowed access through a backdoor if the software is run on its default port. A simple fix—changing the port configuration—was all it took to eliminate the risk. These sorts of changes are made simple by UDS, which goes beyond simple container orchestration with deeply pre-integrated applications. In addition, [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS Registry clearly identifies the CVE posture of any pre-integrated application so those teams can make informed vulnerability management decisions before incorporating new tools to their environment. ##### Freedom to Act: No Vendor Lock-In, No Stalled Missions A particularly frustrating issue in defense software is how vulnerabilities can grind operations to a halt. When a critical app is compromised, missions often have to wait for a patch or workaround. That’s unacceptable. UDS is built to prioritize mission continuity. If an application becomes a liability, our layered approach lets teams uninstall it and switch to a secure alternative without disrupting operations. Defense Unicorns is an open source company first and foremost, and has designed UDS to avoid vendor lock-in, giving you the flexibility to choose the best solution for your needs—whether that’s replacing a compromised tool or introducing new capabilities to meet mission requirements. ##### Reducing Operational Burden with Automated Risk Controls At the end of the day, the job of a software platform isn’t just to check compliance boxes or spit out vulnerability reports. It’s to lower the operational burden on mission teams and let them focus on the work that truly matters. UDS does this by leveraging our open-source tools like [Link: https://zarf.dev/] Zarf and [Link: https://pepr.dev/] Pepr, which simplify packaging and delivery while automating much of the risk management process. Instead of worrying about whether their software is secure, teams can trust that UDS addressed the biggest risks through a comprehensive vulnerability management approach. ##### The Future of Vulnerability Management in the DoD The landscape of software vulnerabilities is constantly evolving, and staying ahead of it requires more than just good tools—it takes a different mindset. At Defense Unicorns, we’re committed to turning the CVE challenge into an opportunity to strengthen systems, streamline operations, and ensure that defense teams always have the upper hand. --- ### Istio Ambient: Simplifying Service Mesh in UDS Core Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/istio-ambient-simplifying-service-mesh-in-uds-core/ [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS Core provides a FOSS secure runtime platform for mission-critical applications. Some of the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/blog/uds-secure-software-delivery] capabilities provided by UDS Core include logging, monitoring, SSO, and a service mesh. Istio has always been a key part of this platform stack to fulfill our service mesh needs (dating back to the [Link: https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/devsecops/pdf/DoD-Enterprise-DevSecOps-Reference-Design-v2.0-CNCF-Kubernetes.pdf] DoD Enterprise DevSecOps Reference Design). However, its traditional “sidecar” approach can be resource-intensive and complex, especially in edge environments. Istio’s [Link: https://istio.io/latest/docs/ambient/] Ambient mode promises lower resource requirements, simplified operations, and improved latency – all significant benefits for our platform, particularly as we expand our [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/tactical-edge-deployments/overview/] edge capabilities. In UDS Core, we’ve been incrementally building out support for Istio Ambient and as of release v0.43.0 all of the core workloads are running in ambient mode, with an opt-in approach for applications deployed on the UDS platform. ##### Background: Service Mesh and Sidecar vs Ambient Istio is a service mesh designed to provide secure, encrypted communications between workloads. For UDS Core, this is critical to satisfy security and compliance controls ( [Link: https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/53/r5/upd1/final] NIST 800-53) around encryption in transit, and to align with the [Link: https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/DoD-ZTStrategy.pdf] DoD Zero Trust Strategy. Historically, Istio configured and provided this security via per-pod sidecars running [Link: https://www.envoyproxy.io/] Envoy proxies. While these provide the necessary security, each sidecar proxy comes with nontrivial resource overhead, complexity, and operational maintenance. Istio first announced a new approach for service mesh, “Ambient mode“, in [Link: https://istio.io/latest/blog/2022/introducing-ambient-mesh/] September 2022, reaching general availability in [Link: https://istio.io/latest/blog/2024/ambient-reaches-ga/] November 2024. Ambient provides an alternative approach using a shared, per-node proxy for traffic called [Link: https://github.com/istio/ztunnel] ztunnel, which is able to handle processing of Layer 4. For more advanced processing at Layer 7, Istio Waypoints can be optionally added as needed. This approach maintains the same standards of encryption and security, but reduces the overhead significantly by eliminating per-pod proxies. | Sidecar ModeAmbient Mode | | Deployment ModelPer-pod Envoy sidecarPer-node ztunnel (optional Waypoints for L7) | | Resource OverheadHigh (scales with number of pods)Low (proxies shared at node level) | | Latency ImpactModerate to highLower (fewer processing hops) | | Operational ComplexityHigh (sidecar injection, lifecycle management)Lower (transparent to pods, simpler onboarding) | | Layer 4/Layer 7 ProcessingFull L4/L7 by default (sidecar)L4 always (ztunnel), L7 optional (Waypoints) | Istio provides a full comparison of these two service mesh modes, along with more details on Layer 4 and Layer 7 processing if you’d like to [Link: https://istio.io/latest/docs/overview/dataplane-modes/] read more here. ##### Why Ambient for UDS Core? The main driver for adopting Istio’s ambient mode was the reduced resource footprint. As we continue to focus on providing more mission impact, we’ve been expanding our offering at the [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/tactical-edge-deployments/overview/] tactical edge. One common characteristic we see of “edge devices” is limited resources, especially when compared to the “infinite scalability” of workloads in the cloud. In order to validate some our assumptions about ambient benefits, we gathered some initial metrics with a test application. Based on this initial evaluation we saw significant resource reductions, especially with larger pod counts. In our testing each sidecar required an average of 8 CPU millicores and 40Mi of memory. In ambient we saw roughly the same resource cost per ztunnel proxy. However, since the ztunnel proxy is a daemonset rather than a sidecar, this cost was per-node rather than per-pod, so the resource overhead was only a fraction of sidecar mode (see full metrics below based on a deployment of the full UDS Core platform). Istio sidecar integration has frequently caused friction for end users, pulling their focus away from their production applications (we typically call these mission apps). Historically, our [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/reference/configuration/uds-operator/overview/] UDS Operator has mitigated most of this complexity, but some applications still required special configurations. A few specific places we’ve seen complexity in the past: - Sidecar injection complexities: Since sidecars run as a container in each application pod, managing the lifecycle of these (adding, updating, removing) typically requires restarting the application pod. This can cause disruptions to your application, adds to initial startup/install time, and increases the overall complexity of adding applications to the mesh. While no longer relevant for UDS Core, there were also issues managing sidecars on Kubernetes Jobs until [Link: https://istio.io/latest/blog/2023/native-sidecars/] “native sidecars” became generally available in Kubernetes. Istio ambient removes these sidecars on applications, removing this as a management concern. - Direct pod addressability: With sidecar mode and STRICT mTLS, workarounds were required to allow pod IPs to be directly addressed for traffic in the mesh. While this wasn’t a frequent problem it would pop up from time to time with new applications and tended to be a pain to identify and workaround, especially with other operators managing resources. With the ambient ztunnel proxy this is no longer an issue – pod IPs can be directly routed to through ztunnel. - Prometheus metrics setup: The complexity involved with metrics scraping in STRICT mTLS is well [Link: https://istio.io/latest/docs/ops/integrations/prometheus/#tls-settings] documented by Istio but required specific certificate mounts and proper scrape configs to be set for all metrics in the cluster. We managed this all via monitor mutations in the past, but with ambient mode prometheus [Link: https://blog.howardjohn.info/posts/securing-prometheus/] “just works” even with STRICT mTLS. With the launch of Istio Ambient as GA and significant interest around the broader cloud native community, we also saw Ambient as the clear future. By being relatively early adopters (especially in the DoD space), we took the opportunity to identify and resolve any issues early on, and provide the best service mesh experience for users of UDS Core. ##### Implementing Ambient in UDS Core As we worked through implementing ambient in UDS Core, we encountered some initial technical challenges/changes that required updates to our baseline “security profile” applied by our UDS Operator. The majority of these changes were with Network Policies and adapting to the ways Network Policies need to change in support of Istio Ambient. In order to allow traffic to flow through ztunnel as expected, Network Policies need to allow [Link: https://istio.io/latest/docs/ambient/usage/networkpolicy/#ambient-traffic-overlay-and-kubernetes-networkpolicy] port 15008 traffic for both ingress and egress. Without this port allowed, traffic ends up getting blocked rather than traversing the mesh. However, once port 15008 is opened up through Network Policies – it effectively opens up traffic on any port between the source and destination, since all traffic (regardless of port) is sent through ztunnel. Resolving this issue took a lot of careful planning and design, ultimately leading to a “defense in depth” approach using Network Policies for some restrictions and layering in [Link: https://istio.io/latest/docs/reference/config/security/authorization-policy/] Istio Authorization Policies to implement per-port restrictions (we’ll provide a deeper dive into this setup in the future). By leveraging our existing “generic” [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/reference/configuration/custom-resources/packages-v1alpha1-cr/#allow] network.allow specification, we were able to fully generate Authorization Policies for traffic without requiring end user changes. The operator also dynamically injects port 15008 into all relevant NetworkPolicies to ensure ztunnel traffic flows as expected, without requiring the user to think through Istio internals. After navigating these challenges around network security, we were able to incrementally migrate all workloads within UDS Core (logging, monitoring, SSO, etc) to ambient mode. We also provided an opt-in approach for end user workloads, allowing them to adopt ambient mode on their own timeline. This approach offered the best flexibility for end users while minimizing any service disruption and mission impact. ##### Results & Final Thoughts After navigating these technical challenges and considerations, how has Ambient mode performed in practice? Overall, the transition has been a major success, resulting in significant reductions in resource consumption, latency, and deployment complexity: | ModeAvg. CPU UsedAvg. Memory UsedAvg. Request LatencyDeployment Time | | Sidecar2393m22241Mi9.05 ms23m 29s | | Ambient1734m18785Mi3.23 ms18m 04s | | Percent Reduction29%15%64%13% | Metrics gathered based on a 5 node cluster running on a cloud provider The metrics above represent just the footprint reduction in UDS Core. Migrating any applications on top of UDS Core to ambient mode as well brings even more benefits, potentially translating to $100s or more in cloud cost savings per month. While these cost savings in traditional cloud environments are great, the true impact of this reduced footprint is amplified at the tactical edge. Previously, the full capabilities of UDS Core such as logging, monitoring, and runtime security within the service mesh were inaccessible in resource-constrained environments due to sidecar overhead and complexity. Ambient mode removes this barrier, allowing us to deliver the same secure platform regardless of the underlying hardware. A key takeaway from this transition is the value of automation and abstraction with our UDS Operator. By managing complexity in our operator, we ensured that end users remained focused on their mission applications, rather than dealing with the intricate details of network security and mesh migration. The use of a clearly defined [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/reference/configuration/uds-operator/package/] custom resources allowed us to transparently adjust underlying security enforcement mechanisms (such as integrating Authorization Policies alongside traditional Network Policies), without requiring any action from end users. Another key to our successful transition was robust end-to-end testing. Comprehensive testing across multiple Kubernetes distributions surfaced issues early, helping us confidently deploy Ambient mode without concerns about unanticipated edge cases. Lastly, deliberate planning and careful technical design were fundamental to our successful Ambient adoption. Our journey began over eight months ago, steadily ramping up through rigorous testing, iterative refinement, and detailed planning to ensure a smooth transition. This measured approach allowed us to minimize disruption and maximize mission impact. Adopting Istio Ambient mode has been more than a technical improvement—it represents a strategic evolution of our service mesh architecture, directly enhancing our ability to deliver secure, reliable, and effective support to missions at any scale or location. --- ### Runtime Security in UDS Core: Standardizing on Falco Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/runtime-security-in-uds-core-standardizing-on-falco/ UDS Core provides a secure, open-source baseline for deploying mission applications in airgapped and egress-limited environments. Falco is now the standard runtime security engine in UDS Core. This change reduces operational complexity, improves rule lifecycle management in disconnected environments, and strengthens real-time threat detection at the node and cluster layers. While prevention, container image scanning, and other features can be valuable to some missions, it was determined that runtime detection is what missions require across the board. The result is a leaner UDS Core with faster deployments, clearer signals, and better alignment to mission outcomes. ##### Decision UDS Core now ships with Falco as the default runtime detection tool. NeuVector was deprecated and removed on November 12, 2025. A separate UDS package will remain available for teams that still require it. UDS security compliance artifacts will reflect this change. ##### Why Falco Fits UDS Core ###### Direct kernel-level visibility Falco ingests system call activity from the Linux kernel. Collection occurs in kernel space and is delivered to user space through Falco libraries for enrichment and evaluation. This design provides broad coverage of host and container activity without application changes. ###### Mature, maintained rule sets with offline management Falco includes maintained default rules and a structured language that supports macros, lists, and custom fields. Rules are published and versioned across stable, incubating, and sandbox sets. UDS Core can pin versions and perform controlled updates that match change-control processes. ###### Deployment model that matches constrained environments Falco deploys as a Kubernetes DaemonSet across Linux nodes, minimizing moving parts and avoiding heavy control planes. The official Helm charts manage lifecycle operations and driver selection. This approach fits UDS Core requirements for simple, reliable components in airgapped environments. ###### Flexible, airgap-friendly alert routing Falco emits alerts through standard outputs. For broad integrations, Falcosidekick acts as a lightweight forwarder that supports destinations including message queues, SIEMs, and webhooks. This enables local routing inside disconnected enclaves and later delivery to enterprise systems when links are available. ###### Project maturity and community backing Falco is a CNCF Graduated project that has sustained governance, security reviews, and multi-vendor stewardship. This level of maturity supports long-term sustainment across mission environments. ##### Technical Details That Matter in UDS Core ###### Drivers and libraries Falco libscap negotiates with the selected driver and streams syscall events to user space, where libsinsp enriches context and exposes fields for rules. The modern eBPF path removes the need to out-of-tree build kernel modules on many platforms and improves portability across kernel versions. ###### Rule authoring and tuning Rules reference event fields for processes, files, and network activity, and can be scoped to specific sources like syscall or k8s_audit. Macros and lists reduce duplication and provide consistent tuning patterns. Project guidance codifies practices for minimizing noise while retaining coverage. ###### Outputs and response Falco supports file, stdout, and program outputs. Falcosidekick extends this with a single endpoint for multiple Falco instances and many integrations, plus metrics for health checks. This simplifies local SOC workflows and downstream automation. ###### Kubernetes first, host coverage included Falco observes both containerized and non-containerized workloads. The same rules engine covers pods, systemd services, and host processes, which reduces tooling fragmentation in multi-purpose clusters. ##### How This Strengthens UDS and Mission Outcomes ###### Lean baseline Falco DaemonSet architecture, maintained rule sets, and OCI-based artifact distribution keep the runtime security footprint small while enabling strict version control in airgapped deployments. Fewer components and predictable updates translate to faster authorization cycles and simpler sustainment, allowing mission owners to focus on what matters most: the mission. ###### High-fidelity alerts Kernel-level visibility combined with Kubernetes audit streams produces alerts tied to workload and API context. Tunable rules, macros, and source scoping limit unnecessary events and align detections to the threat model, keeping the mission secure at all times. ###### Disconnected resilience Rules, plugins, and charts are distributed as OCI artifacts and Helm packages, which can be mirrored into enclave registries on fixed schedules. This supports consistent, repeatable updates without external egress regardless of where the mission takes it. ###### Compliance enablement Falco produces structured, timestamped alerts suitable for collection and retention in UDS observability stacks. This supports evidence generation for controls related to audit, monitoring, and incident detection. ##### Mission Impact A UDS Core baseline powered by Falco provides real-time detection with minimal operational overhead, predictable offline updates, and direct alignment to Kubernetes operations. Teams gain faster deployment, tighter control of security artifacts, and clearer alerts that map to mission priorities. This supports shorter paths to an ATO and more reliable delivery in disconnected, contested, or resource-constrained environments. UDS Core is leaner, faster, and more focused on mission outcomes. Runtime security with Falco ensures you stay secure without the operational burden. --- ### Automating Rebuildable Secure Pipelines with Zarf Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/automating-rebuildable-secure-pipelines-with-zarf/ Continuous Delivery (CD) isn’t some slipshod method for delivering half-baked changes in a “go fast and break things” environment. In fact, the “GFABT” shops aren’t using CD. Ask them. CD is about applying principles to deliver repeatable quality and traceability. It’s about ensuring that we are always deployable and have quality gates in place to maintain this. It’s the perfect fit for critical systems. When implementing CD, the first feature we should implement is the pipeline, which requires us to understand the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/blog/software-supply-chain-optimization] software supply chain problem we are trying to solve. Engineering a CD pipeline is not about copying someone else’s tooling checklist; it’s about faithfully applying first principles regardless of context. Tools evolve, constraints shift, but the principles remain. Recently, we were presented with an interesting delivery challenge. > “We have hundreds of repos in multiple languages. To meet compliance requirements, each release package must include everything needed to rebuild the artifact inside the secure network.” For most pipelines, we would never want to rebuild an artifact because the CD quality process is focused on validating artifacts, not code. This is why you should never build something on a test branch, deploy it to a test environment, validate it, promote it, rebuild, and deploy to production. If we did that, then what we deployed is not what we tested. Instead, we want an immutable artifact. There are many opportunities in that process to inject change that would invalidate one or more quality gates. So, we need to design our pipeline to minimize that risk. ##### The Current Flow Their current pipelines already utilize containers and “sneakerware” delivery, where production artifacts are burned onto DVDs, which are then delivered to a secure facility, scanned for security, and loaded into an air-gapped network. This happens every week or two, though they could do it on demand if required, so we have something to build on. ##### Minimizing Variation risk Since only delivering immutable artifacts isn’t an option, we need to mitigate the risk of variation between builds. Our pipeline should already be tagging the release candidate container with the Git commit SHA. So we’ll use that to capture and save all the dependencies, tools, and configurations used in the original artifact. We won’t produce the same artifact with a rebuild, but we can have a high level of confidence that we’ll have functional parity. The first step, of course, is to collect the source for that commit tag. We can either do this as a clone of the commit tag or, if required, gather a complete [Link: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-bundle] Git bundle for keeping a remote version control system in sync. Along with that, we’ll need to collect and package: - All third-party and internal dependencies and their [Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_dependency] transitive dependencies One issue we need to be aware of is that humans are non-deterministic in that, while they SHOULD follow good practices, they frequently don’t. I’ve seen many teams that use mutable snapshot versions of dependencies to deliver production artifacts. There’s no benefit to using mutable versions, so we shouldn’t do it. However, some people do, so our process should allow for it. - The version of the compiler/development kit - The language’s package manager version (Maven, NPM, Cargo, pip, etc.) ##### Make Rebuilds Fool-Proof Because we aren’t troglodytes, and actually care about making things clear for the people who touch our work later, we need to make it easy for them to rebuild the application on demand. This means that all of our build scripts need to be packaged to ensure it’s easy to repeat the same process used to build the original artifact. To make this easy, we can use [Link: https://zarf.dev/] Zarf. Zarf is an open-source tool built by Defense Unicorns to make air-gapped delivery very easy and to make it easy for non-engineers to deliver software updates to environments where developers may have no access, such as submarines or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs). Here, we can use Zarf to create our final container with an application runtime container and a dedicated build container with all dependencies, tools, configuration, and scripts. This gives us a Zarf package, which is an OCI container that we can add to the secure network’s artifact registry. This gives the people with access to that network two options. They can run zarf deploy for the runtime container to deploy it to their operational environment. However, they can also run zarf deploy to rebuild the artifact with no other setup required. ##### Scaling to Everyone Now that we have a pattern we can apply to every language family, the last thing we want is for every team to write these workflows. Instead, we need to create reusable templates for every language family. Then, teams simply need to add the workflow to their pipelines and return to business as usual. By fusing disciplined CD principles, rather than dogmatic practice, with end-to-end version control and Zarf’s air-gapped packaging, we create a fully automated, air-gapped software supply chain for secure software delivery. We maintain the principle of “always in a deployable state” and “deliverable on demand.” We enable secure operations and provide full traceability between runtime artifacts and the code used to create them. And we can do all of this without any added toil. The next time someone claims CD “won’t work here,” remind them that we can deliver to a SCIF or a submarine with CD. Perhaps their problem isn’t as special as they think. --- ### Airgap Deployments Are Like Camping Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/airgap-deployments-are-like-camping/ Defense IT systems are often “airgapped,” meaning they’re disconnected from the Internet. This could be intentional for security reasons to isolate and protect sensitive data, or it could be due to physical constraints. (It’s hard to get Internet access on a submarine deep underwater!) Working in airgapped environments presents a host of unique problems to solve. Modern software is typically built to assume it has a reliable Internet connection to download dependencies and updates or communicate with external services. When you take away the ability for “cloud-native” applications to access the cloud, things fall apart quickly. Defense Unicorns overcomes these challenges with [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/pricing/] Unified Defense Stack (UDS), our secure software delivery platform designed from the ground up to support [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] airgap deployments. The technical details of how UDS works are complex, so to simplify things with an analogy… let’s go camping! ##### Packing for Your Trip Imagine you’re preparing for a remote camping trip deep in the backcountry, where there’s no cell service or Wi-Fi, and no nearby stores to pick up any forgotten items. You’d better make sure you bring everything you might need. ###### Your Essentials There’s a standard set of camping gear that you need for every trip: your tent, sleeping bag, first-aid kit, and so on. These are the essential items that you always bring when going camping. Defense IT systems have their own set of must-have essentials: Access Management, Logging, Monitoring, etc. (See [Link: https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/53/r5/upd1/final] NIST SP 800-53 for more details, or to cure insomnia.) The UDS Core platform includes applications to handle all of those essential IT requirements. Think of UDS as the standard packing list for your trip, so you don’t need to worry about which [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/istio-ambient-simplifying-service-mesh-in-uds-core/] Service Mesh you should bring to keep the mosquitoes away from your data. ###### Your Accessories Depending on the purpose of your camping trip, you’ll need additional gear beyond the core essentials. Going rock climbing? You’ll need ropes and carabiners. Planning on mountain biking? That’ll be hard to do without your bike and helmet. These accessories represent mission applications – the unique software tools necessary to accomplish your specific operational needs. If you’re going to be doing software development, you might want [Link: https://about.gitlab.com/] GitLab and [Link: https://www.sonarsource.com/products/sonarqube/] SonarQube. If you’ll be running tactical operations in the field, then [Link: https://tak.gov/] Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) would be more appropriate. ###### Packing It Up You’ve got all of your camping essentials and accessories sprawled out at home on your living room floor. It’s time to pack! Under the hood, UDS uses an open-source tool called [Link: https://zarf.dev/] Zarf to package all of that essential and accessory software into a single bundle that’s easy to transport. Zarf also ensures that any dependencies those applications might need are included. (It’d be a bummer to arrive at your campsite and realize you brought your tent but forgot to bring the tent stakes.) ##### Getting to the Campsite Now that all the gear and supplies are packed, it’s time to hit the road! For camping, that means loading up your car and driving out to your wilderness destination. For software delivery to an airgapped environment, this means physically transporting the digital information contained within that UDS bundle from where it was created to its destination. In physically airgapped environments, this is often done by burning CDs or using a portable hard drive, something folks call the “sneaker net” method of manually moving data. Cloud-based environments often have a “cross-domain solution” available to transfer data one-way, going from low-to-high classification levels, which are disconnected from the Internet. The specific transfer mechanism will vary based on the environment and situation, but ultimately, it’s about getting your software from its source to its destination, just like physically getting camping gear from your home to the campsite. ##### Setting up Camp You’ve finally arrived, and it’s time to set up camp! You’ll need to pitch your tent, build a fire, and do everything else necessary to make your campsite functional. It’s a lot more work than simply dropping off the bags. In addition to using Zarf to package up everything before the trip, UDS also uses Zarf to unpack and deploy everything into your mission environment. Zarf uses all the gear it brought along to set up a local version of the resources your cloud-native applications expect to access. When those applications try to reach out over the non-existent Internet to retrieve something, wandering off into the empty wilderness alone, Zarf politely redirects them back to the local resources it set up in camp. This keeps everything running smoothly in an airgapped environment ##### Getting New Gear After several days camping alone, basking in the solitude of being disconnected from the outside world, your friend shows up at your campsite! They’ve brought a bunch of new camping gear, including a better tent than what you originally brought with you and an entirely new set of equipment for mountain biking. Delivering new gear to the campsite is like delivering new applications and software updates to an airgapped environment. In the same way you used Zarf to pack and unpack all the equipment when you initially arrived, Zarf packs and unpacks later updates – the journey those packages take across the airgap is similar. Software is constantly evolving, and Zarf helps you ensure you have the latest gear, even when you’re camping deep in the wilderness, off the grid. ##### Where to Next? Your trip is over. You had a blast! Now you’re excited for your next camping adventure. But where will you go? To the mountains? Beaches? A quaint grassy meadow in the countryside? Just as there are lots of different types of places to go camping, there are lots of different kinds of environments to deploy mission software, including commercial cloud, on-prem data centers, and out at the tactical edge. UDS is designed for portability, with a “configure once; deploy anywhere” mindset. The work you did packing everything for your first trip can easily be reused for future deployments in other environments. UDS goes wherever the mission requires, especially those hard-to-reach airgapped environments. --- ### US Army Software Factory Modernization Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/us-army-software-factory-drives-modernization-in-software-engineering/ One of the reasons I started this blog was to share lessons learned while moving from quarterly to daily production delivery and helping other teams in other contexts learn the same. Not every team got there, but every team that tried had less pain and higher morale with improved outcomes for the business. The improvement in delivered outcomes and quality of life is why I am so vocal about these topics. Over the years, I’ve seen many people claim they were “doing CD” while ignoring the core practices that bring the benefits of CD. - Build/deploy automation with GitFlow, some unit tests, and manual acceptance testing isn’t CD. - Bypassing the pipeline for a hotfix isn’t CD. - Delivering once a month “because that’s as often as the customers want it” is not CD. Because I’ve seen far more fake CD than real, my default is skepticism when someone claims to do it. I expect there will be significant gaps or even build automation, and I’m rarely surprised. The US Army surprised me. I had the opportunity to visit the US Army Software Factory in Austin, Texas, part of Army Futures Command. I was invited to see what they were doing, compare notes with the teams, and see what we could learn from each other. Army Software Factory has a boot camp program to teach soldiers how to develop software professionally so that they can return to their units and deliver capabilities sustainably in the field. ###### The Problem to Solve For decades, the Department of Defense has faced challenges in defense software innovation, relying heavily on contractors to deliver approved software through outdated processes. This usually follows the classical waterfall development process followed by obtaining an [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-enable-ato-in-days-not-months/] Authority to Operate. The entire process can take [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-enable-ato-in-days-not-months/] months or years to get capabilities into the hands of the people who need them. The results are often software less than “fit for purpose,” with high costs for upgrades or fixes. This leads to soldiers in the field with self-taught development knowledge writing software that meets the immediate tactical needs of their units. This happens for the same reason that shadow IT exists in many large enterprises: “We need solutions now, and we can’t wait on IT to deliver them!” Soldiers delivering software for fellow soldiers can result in faster delivery of solutions better tailored to their needs. The people best able to deliver the right solutions are the people closest to the problems. Still, it comes at a cost: developers without the proper training lack the experience to build sustainable solutions. This can lead to mission-critical capabilities being deployed that are brittle and difficult to maintain, improve, and secure. ###### Transforming Warfighters to Warcoders To address these problems, The Army Software Factory has developed a dedicated training program to teach soldiers the skills of Extreme Programming, continuous integration, and continuous delivery in a team environment. Their mission is to prototype the future force design. They want to inform the Army how to use developers as a strategic asset through Doctrine. The soldiers in training are meant to support that effort and help spread the knowledge of modern software development to their future assignments. To qualify for the program, they must rank between E-5 (Sergeant) and O-3 (Captain). When accepted into one of the program openings, they spend several months learning basic development skills before joining a platform or product team. The soldiers come in with little or no development experience. They are taught basic language skills and how to work on a modern development team using techniques such as TDD, trunk-based development, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. From there, they spend the remainder of their two-year training cycle delivering real software while honing their skills. Each team owns a specific product domain and owns their outcomes. Because this is the DoD, security and compliance are also critical. To that end, security and compliance teams work with the development teams to help them achieve those quality goals too. They enable security and compliance rather than policing for them. After the first year, the soldiers are given a technical assessment with two opportunities to pass. If they fail to pass twice, they are removed from the program. At the end of the program, successful graduates move on to their next assignment. Some will join development efforts in their next unit. Some of the officers will go on to lead existing or new development teams, and some will return to their previous units. The latter may not be developing, but they will be better-informed consumers of the systems they use and be able to provide better feedback to the people creating them. ###### Marketing or Reality? During our two-day visit, I interviewed several soldiers from product and platform teams about US Army Software Factory’s modernization efforts , plus the leads for security and compliance. I dove into the details to probe for gaps in their processes. With most teams I’ve talked to in the past, it’s not difficult to find common problems. No slight to those other teams, but it’s hard to be “good” if you’ve never seen “good.” In this case, I struggled to find low-hanging fruit that could be fixed. I had some suggestions for improving the workflow around code review and work refinement, but these were more optimization than critical changes to make. Developers reported integrating code into the trunk several times per day. Most teams received frequent and rapid feedback from the field. Some teams were working on solutions that required app store-type distributions and had slower feedback, but they did work to get people with domain expertise involved with using it in staging to get the best feedback possible. It was impressive, and I’d happily join any of their teams to maintain the low-drama delivery environment I prefer. ###### Challenges Nothing is perfect, and since the Army Software Factory is part of the US Army, utopia was never an option. Even with its strides in defense software innovation, the Army Software Factory faces challenges. - In 2024, Army Futures Command made the decision to reduce the program timeline from three to two years due to the intense demand from across the Army for the capability they are delivering. This means a soldier will spend 18 months on a team after their coding boot camp instead of 30 months. That loss of a year of hands-on experience is significant, but hopefully, the disciplined training process they use will still provide them with the experience they need to help drive change. - They are teaching new developers how to do this correctly. The challenge is that most other organizations don’t know how to do it correctly, much less incentivize teams to work that way. The hope is that the graduates can influence change. To do that, they’ll need some exposure to how bad things can be elsewhere and how to communicate “this way works better.” I worry that some may become disheartened if forced to work the way many teams (even in the private sector) work. - The officers graduating from the course must understand how to communicate this way of working to their superiors to influence change. I spoke to a Captain whose next posting was leading a software modernization effort. He asked if he should discuss “agile” or the “Pivotal model” with his new leadership. I told him that under no circumstances should he discuss those. Leadership won’t care and may even be hostile to buzzwords. Understand the problems your leadership is trying to solve and be able to explain how improving the logistics of software development can help solve those problems. ###### Building the Future of Army Software This initiative marks a significant milestone in the Army’s digital transformation, showcasing how modern software practices can reshape the delivery of defense capabilities. It’s been operating as an experiment for several years, but the value has been recognized. As of January 2025, the Secretary of the Army has directed the formation of a new career field for “Software Operations” based on the Army Software Factory model. This is a hard-won win and speaks to the value the Army sees in owning the outcomes of their software and using modern software engineering methods to deliver it. I hope the rest of the DoD recognizes the value and follows the Army’s lead. ###### The US Army is Beating You Your organization probably has less bureaucracy and inertia than the US Army. What’s stopping you from modernizing your software engineering? All it takes is finding good information, a willingness to change, and replacing fear and stagnation with curiosity. ###### Resources The Army Software Factory isn’t using a framework because frameworks solve someone else’s problem. They are using the same methods you can find in these books. - [Link: https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Software-Engineering-Discipline-Development/dp/0137314914] Modern Software Engineering — Dave Farley - [Link: https://itrevolution.com/product/accelerate/] Accelerate — Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, & Gene Kim - [Link: https://garygruver.com/engineering-digital-transformation.php] Engineering the Digital Transformation — Gary Gruver - [Link: https://continuousdelivery.com/] Continuous Delivery — Dave Farley & Jez Humble --- ### Eddie Zaneski: Open Source to Flight Line Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/from-open-source-to-the-flight-line-a-conversation-with-eddie-zaneski/ Eddie Zaneski never expected to work in defense technology. Then a chance conversation changed the course of his career, leading him to join Defense Unicorns and eventually putting him aboard a C-17 to test a live software deployment in flight. Today, as our Field Chief Technology Officer, Eddie connects mission users with the teams building the technology they rely on. His job sits at the intersection of engineering, product development, and the operational mission: understand what users truly need, translate those needs for product teams, and help shape solutions that work in the real world. It is a role that draws on his background in developer relations and open source software, as well as his willingness to challenge assumptions. Watch the full interview to learn more about Eddie and his work at Defense Unicorns. ###### Deploying Software From a C-17 Eddie has always loved airplanes, but he never imagined that his software career would put him aboard a military aircraft. That changed during a test of UDS Fleet capabilities on a C-17. The goal was ambitious: deploy software live on the aircraft in flight over an internet connection. The flight was a vivid demonstration of what modern mission software delivery can look like. The team took off, established connectivity, and tested the ability to update software while airborne. The experience connects directly to the Air Force’s concept of “fly, fix, fly.” A pilot takes an aircraft up to evaluate new software, sends feedback to the development team on the ground, lands, loads an improved build, and returns to the air. The faster and more reliably that cycle happens, the faster new capability reaches the mission. That rapid feedback loop has long been an aspiration. UDS Fleet is designed to help make it practical. ###### Making Complex Infrastructure Feel Familiar UDS Fleet is built to simplify the management and deployment of mission software. The challenge is significant: the highly complex software systems must be manageable by pilots, aircrew, maintainers, and other operators who should not have years of IT experience. Eddie understands that complexity firsthand. He spent roughly seven years as a Kubernetes maintainer and technical lead, working deep inside the project. Kubernetes is powerful, but it is also notoriously difficult to master. His current focus is distilling that complexity into an operator experience that feels more like downloading an app than administering a software platform. The goal is to make updating the software on a jet as easy as downloading Candy Crush to a phone. That simplicity is not just about convenience. It helps ensure pilots enter a mission with the latest available capabilities. ###### Building Around Real Mission Needs UDS Fleet is already supporting deployments to platforms including the F-22, and the team is preparing for additional efforts across the Navy, Army, and Air Force. For Eddie, the most exciting part is not any single feature. It is the opportunity to build capabilities around real operational requirements, informed by direct work with the people carrying out the mission. That is ultimately the purpose of a Field CTO: bring the product team closer to the field and bring the field’s reality into every product decision. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/] If you’re interested in learning more about UDS Fleet, schedule time to connect with us here. --- ### On Vendor Lock Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/on-vendor-lock/ Open Source Software is a founding principle of Defense Unicorns because we believe vendor lock is harmful to national security. ##### Three Problems with Vendor-Locked Systems ###### 1. Modernization Nightmares When a mission adopts a closed-source, proprietary solution from a single vendor, it sets the stage for future problems, depending on how the initial contract was written. While that new system may be fit for purpose at the start, when it’s time for an upgrade or renewal, the pain begins. - The vendor can raise prices to unreasonable levels for new capabilities or continued support. - The vendor controls whether or not to allow integration with other systems. - The military is at the mercy of the vendor’s timelines to deliver results. That single vendor has the leverage. This often results in long delays, increased costs to U.S. taxpayers, and modernization efforts stalling out altogether, so the military falls behind in capability. ###### 2. Security Vulnerabilities When a new vulnerability or exploit is discovered in proprietary software, the military has to rely on the vendor to disclose and patch the issue in a timely manner. Hopefully, there’s an SLA in place to enforce expediency, but that’s not always the case. Open source software puts control in the hands of its users, giving them the freedom and permission to fix problems and implement additional features (and, hopefully, share those updates with the community). More importantly, open source software provides transparency into any vulnerabilities that do exist, unlike proprietary software, where closed-source vendors can choose to hide bugs and other problems. ###### 3. Expiring License Keys - Murphy’s 1st Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” - Murphy’s 2nd Law: “The moment you need mission-critical software the most is the moment its license key will expire.” The worst thing that can happen when using proprietary software is its license key expiring at a critical moment in military operations, blocking warfighters from the tools they need to execute their mission. It can take days, weeks, and even months to fix the situation. When the fight’s on, your software can’t fail! ##### How Defense Unicorns Kills Vendor Lock Defense Unicorns publishes the foundation of its Unified Defense Stack (UDS) platform as Free Open Source Software (FOSS), releasing updates with new features and patches about every two weeks. Check out UDS Core on GitHub: [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core Releasing our core platform as FOSS means that missions adopting UDS as their software delivery platform are not bound to Defense Unicorns. Missions are free to use [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] UDS Core, with or without Defense Unicorns, and will continue to receive the regular updates we publish. If Defense Unicorns disappeared tomorrow, the software would continue to freely exist. This ensures continuity of operations. Additionally, other system integrators and software vendors are free to use our open source tools to deliver their solutions, and we encourage them to do so! We’re building critical products to support national security, and it’s in our collective best interests as a nation that others leverage our work rather than reinvent the wheel. The only way Defense Unicorns is going to vendor-lock you is by our team being so gosh-darn amazing to work with that you couldn’t imagine yourself anywhere else! 😉 ##### Our “Open Core” Business Model What we truly love and are passionate about is open source technologies that advance the mission. However, open source still requires funding, so we have commercial products that enable us to support your mission directly while allowing us to improve the open source ecosystem and deliver more for the common good. To balance our open source principles with business realities, Defense Unicorns has adopted an “Open Core” business model in which we make all essential components of UDS open source to ensure mission continuity, while offering dedicated support and premium features through paid licenses. Our commercial product licenses for [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-enterprise/] UDS Enterprise and [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/] UDS Fleet include: - Unicorn engineer support with 24/7 coverage for critical events - Near-zero CVE and FIPS-validated container images - Cybersecurity compliance artifacts (SCTM, SBOM, diagrams, etc.) - Additional product features to simplify how to build, package, deploy, and manage applications with UDS, such as UDS Connect and UDS Command. These make software installations and updates accessible to every warfighter All of those commercial product features are available under annual licenses; however, for Government end users, we provide a perpetual license to the last delivered version if you decide to stop using Defense Unicorns. As a Government customer, if your license expires, you can continue using the last version of our commercial software before the expiration date. There are no technical restrictions in place, like expiring license keys. When your license expires, you simply lose access to future updates, upgrades, maintenance, and support. However, you will continue to benefit from the ongoing maintenance of our open source foundation regardless. ##### Why the APGL-3.0 License? We’ve chosen to use the AGPL-3.0 license for the open source parts of UDS, such as [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] UDS Core, because it protects both Defense Unicorns and, more importantly, our mission heroes in the US Government. AGPL-3.0 is a free copyleft license which allows anyone to use and modify UDS for their needs; however, they must share those modifications back with the community. This accomplishes two things: - Eliminate vendor lock by making UDS open source - Prevent other companies from taking UDS and turning it into their own proprietary, vendor-locked products ##### We’re Open Source Contributors First Like most modern software, we built UDS on the shoulders of open source giants. But at Defense Unicorns, we’re not just a consumer of OSS, we are first and foremost proactive contributors to the open source community! Our commitment to open source means the tools we build are available individually and free of vendor-lock risk. For example, [Link: https://zarf.dev/] Zarf is open source, free to use, and maintained by the Zarf community, with no proprietary dependencies and no requirement to continue using a specific vendor. Our donation of Zarf to OpenSSF, while remaining Zarf’s primary maintainer group, demonstrates our strong commitment to the open source ethos. Another example is [Link: https://pepr.dev/] Pepr, the Kubernetes middleware framework from Defense Unicorns, which is available on GitHub and can be adopted, modified, and maintained by mission owners independently of our services. Finally, in addition to building new projects, we also contribute back upstream to major open source projects, including Kubernetes, Helm, Istio, Keycloak, Sonarqube, Archivista, Renovate, Atmos, Kairos, ChainLoop, and more. We do that by proactively hiring engineers who are maintainers of those open source projects to become Defense Unicorns. When there’s a critical bug or new feature needed in upstream software, the warfighter isn’t stuck waiting and hoping for a fix. We can fix it. Defense Unicorns is committed to eliminating vendor lock through Open Source Software that ensures data independence for the US military and its allies. --- ### In support of open weight AI Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/open-weights-ai/ We’re proud to sign this letter in support of open weight AI alongside Microsoft and other industry leaders. Since our founding, we’ve believed that open source software is essential to advancing freedom globally. Open technologies provide transparency, foster innovation, and eliminate the vendor lock-in that has plagued military programs for decades. We believe the same principles that made open source software foundational to modern computing should shape the future of AI: transparency, collaboration, competition, and the freedom for organizations to build, adapt, and operate AI on their own terms. read here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/open-weight-models-letter_073026.pdf [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/open-weight-models-letter_073026.pdf] Open the PDF in a new tab --- ### How the UDS Platform Aligns with MOSA Standards Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/uds-is-mosa/ Is UDS MOSA? Yes. We hear this question a lot: “Is Defense Unicorns’ [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] Unified Defense Stack (UDS) MOSA compliant?” There’s a lot to unpack there, but the short answer is: yes. UDS aligns with MOSA. ###### What is MOSA? The Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) is a design and acquisition strategy adopted by the Department of War that emphasizes modular system architecture, open standards for system interfaces, and the ability to add, remove, or replace components throughout a system’s lifecycle. Under MOSA, systems are structured so that major subsystems or components can be developed, competed, and fielded independently, enabling adaptability, innovation, and sustained affordability. ###### How does UDS align with MOSA? MOSA discussions tend to center around hardware standards, but the software behind those systems is equally as important. UDS is built on widely supported and consensus-based standards, ensuring compliance with MOSA principles outlined in [Link: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section4401&num=0&edition=prelim] Title 10 U.S.C. 4401. Rather than relying on proprietary packaging or delivery mechanisms, UDS leverages industry-standard protocols and formats that are vendor-neutral and openly documented All software is packaged using Open Container Initiative (OCI) standards that work with any compatible system, not just Defense Unicorns’ products. The platform uses standard authentication protocols (OAuth, OIDC, SAML) that integrate with existing identity systems, and all communications are encrypted using industry-standard security. UDS also generates transparent software inventories (SBOMs) in open formats that can be converted to other standard formats as needed. This standards-based approach ensures the government avoids vendor lock-in and maintains flexibility to replace or upgrade components throughout a DOW system’s lifecycle. ###### Independent Modules With Defined Interfaces Defense Unicorns’ approach to MOSA centers on building software layers that operate independently of the underlying hardware, yet adhere to clearly defined interfaces and standards. We treat each capability, whether automated workload management, container orchestration, observability, or lifecycle tooling, as a discrete module that integrates into the UDS platform via published APIs and interface definitions. UDS is built on native Kubernetes APIs and standard resources, ensuring that workloads can be deployed, managed, and migrated across any conformant Kubernetes distribution with minimal modification. Application packaging through Helm charts provides a standardized, declarative method for defining and deploying software components that is widely adopted across the cloud-native ecosystem. Should a capability evolve, or a vendor delivers a replacement component, the architecture anticipates that swap without disrupting other layers. This software-centric vision aligns with MOSA’s goal of severable major system components and supports DOW ecosystems by allowing mission applications and platform services to persist even as hardware refreshes or new technologies are introduced. By avoiding proprietary formats and instead building on open, consensus-based standards maintained by organizations like the Open Container Initiative (OCI), the Kubernetes project, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the OpenID Foundation, Defense Unicorns ensures that the government retains maximum flexibility for future competition and component replacement. The architecture provides both the modular interfaces required by MOSA and the standards compliance necessary to prevent vendor lock, creating a software delivery platform that meets today’s requirements and is prepared for future evolution and competition. Ready to build a modular, standards-based software environment without vendor-locking your mission? Explore the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS Platform to see how Defense Unicorns helps defense organizations evolve software capabilities with greater flexibility and control. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Let’s Chat. --- ### UDS Fleet - Live Demo Recording Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/uds-fleet-live-demo/ ###### Watch Field CTO Eddie Zaneski Give a Live Demo to a Warfighter ###### Find Unicorns at Upcoming Events ###### when warfighters control their own software ###### explore UDS Documentation ###### Cut the line and put Defense Unicorns to work today --- ### UDS: Software Delivery for the DoD Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/a-game-changing-approach-to-software-delivery-for-the-dod/ WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, veteran-founded Defense Unicorns has released its revolutionary new system to the Department of Defense – UDS – a game-changing shift for the future of software delivery. UDS arms mission operators for modern warfare and brings software solutions to national security environments deployed worldwide. UDS (Unified Defense Stack) publicly launches after successful operations in multiple classified and unclassified environments. This first-of-its-kind defense tech platform, will continue to advance its core capabilities by repeatedly deploying and operating in the most challenging and complex missions inside the Department of Defense. Defense Unicorns Co-founder and CTO, Jeff McCoy shares, “I spent two decades in the Air Force watching technologies struggle to keep up and modernize well enough to deliver updates in air-gapped environments. I wanted to build UDS to help Defense avoid the struggle, complexity, and bureaucracy that make delivering software for national security so difficult.” What truly makes this announcement game-changing is the defense-first approach to software delivery. UDS provides for national security missions a solution that is: Secure—UDS is committed to a 0 CVE posture with continuous monitoring, logging, and alerting across a defense-in-depth approach to cybersecurity. It ensures secure runtime by closely managing and monitoring software interactions within DoD environments, verifying software components, and mitigating vulnerabilities in real-time to maintain a trusted and resilient operational state. Compliant – UDS satisfies up to 90% of the NIST 800-53 technical controls that program offices are responsible for in IL-4, 5, and 6 environments. Airgap Native – UDS is designed for airgap systems. As a Defense-first solution, UDS was designed from the beginning to support disconnected, semi-disconnected, and highly secure environments. Highly Distributable – UDS is designed to deploy where the Mission requires: cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge alike. With UDS, the same software baseline goes everywhere the mission requires, across contractor environments, government systems, unclassified, classified, or even SAP environments. Portable—UDS’ portability enables mission capability providers to rapidly develop, test, deploy, and operate regardless of infrastructure, supporting cloud, bare-metal, and tactical edge with uniformity. Decentralized—UDS reduces mission dependency on single centralized solutions and is instead deployed to many environments, giving your mission the assurance it requires in real wartime scenarios. Easy to Operate – UDS makes complex software delivery easy. Most mission systems are managed by active duty, civilians, or a small number of contracting experts. Mission system operators shouldn’t have to be technology experts to execute their work. With UDS, the heroes that operate these programs and weapon systems no longer have to experience these challenges. “Our vision as a company is to advance freedom and independence globally,” says Robert Slaughter, Air Force Veteran and Defense Unicorns CEO. “The biggest threat to that vision is an ineffective US military, plagued by insecure and outdated legacy software. Here at Defense Unicorns, it is our life purpose to solve this problem once and for all. UDS is that game changing. Most of the time, defense tech is considered a late add-on for most technologies. We took the opposite approach and instead we have purpose-built UDS as a software delivery platform for the DoD.” Since its inception but prior to today’s public release, UDS has been successfully deployed within critical systems operated by partners in the Navy, Air Force, and Space Force. Over a six-month development and testing period, UDS proved its ability to accelerate the Authority to Operate (ATO) process while maintaining the entire software development lifecycle from initial development to sustained operations across dozens of deployments throughout multiple classified levels within the complex defense industrial support base. “The technical solution shouldn’t hold your Mission hostage,” says Andrew Greene, Defense Unicorns Co-Founder and Engineer. “The warfighter deserves nothing less than secure capabilities, immediately available in their mission environments. I believe we’re solving a really hard problem, more holistically and better than it’s ever been done before.” Defense Unicorns is transforming how the Department of Defense apparatus buys, builds, delivers, and sustains mission capabilities. At the core of this disruptive approach is the leveraging of UDS, which is quickly becoming the leading purpose-built defense tech-first software delivery platform. Defense Unicorns has multiple workshops and discovery and framing sessions for government programs and defense contractors to explore how UDS can help make software delivery easy for national security systems. This is the fastest way for anyone interested in potentially acquiring this solution. For more information or to book a demonstration, contact [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Defense Unicorns. About Defense Unicorns: Defense Unicorns is a defense tech startup founded in 2021 with the vision of advancing freedom and independence globally. Defense Unicorns focuses on airgap native software and platform solutions that solve national security issues. Defense Unicorns builds cutting-edge technology to solve the biggest challenges mission systems face when developing and deploying software and AI solutions in some of the most extreme environments on the planet. --- ### Defense Unicorns | Latest News Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/news/ ##### News #### Latest updates and news September 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns Awarded $350M Single Award IDIQ to Accelerate Software Delivery for the Department of War SAN ANTONIO, Texas, September 30, 2026 — Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery for national security missions, announced today it has been awarded […] ###### Air & Space Forces Magazine Highlights DIU OMEN Contract The Defense Innovation Unit and Air Mobility Command awarded deals to Defense Unicorns, Stator Integration Labs, and Air Space Intelligence, each providing different tools to […] ###### Rob Slaughter on the Fighter Pilot Podcast What does it take to update software on an F-22, or deliver critical capabilities to a disconnected battlefield? Rob Slaughter joins the Fighter Pilot Podcast […] ###### DIU Selects Defense Unicorns to Accelerate Air Mobility Command OMEN Efforts UDS Fleet will help commanders and aircrews deploy, update, monitor, and sustain mission software across contested, disconnected, and operationally constrained environments. ###### Defense Unicorns Names Lauren Knausenberger Chief Business Officer Strategic technology leader and former Department of the Air Force CIO joins Defense Unicorns to accelerate growth and advance software as a deterrent to war […] ###### Stephanie Holman Named to Talent 100 Defense Unicorns “You just got to be human, because the person on the other end is also human.” Stephanie Holman’s path into recruiting August 2026 ###### National Review:The New Generation of Defense Wizards National Review explores how a new generation of defense technology companies is bringing Silicon Valley speed and ingenuity to the Pentagon. From the Anduril 250, […] ###### Rob Slaughter Named a Finalist for Top Entrepreneur by ColoradoBiz We’re proud to share that Defense Unicorns co-founder and CEO Rob Slaughter has been named a top finalist for the ColoradoBiz Top Entrepreneur The recognition […] ###### Rob Slaughter on MTS Live: Defense Software Deployment, AI in National Security, & Open Source Tech Defense Unicorns co-founder and CEO Rob Slaughter joined the MTS Podcast to discuss why delivering software to the U.S. military remains so difficult, and why […] ###### Forbes: Battlefield to Boardroom In a new Forbes feature on veteran-led defense technology companies, Defense Unicorns CEO and cofounder Rob Slaughter shares how his experience modernizing software delivery in […] July 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns and Paramify Unite to Give More Nationally Vital Organizations the Secure Foundation They Need to Succeed This Integration Enables Defense and Federal Agencies to Automate Security Compliance and Onboard New Capabilities Faster Than Ever San Antonio, TX (July 29, 2026) Defense […] ###### U.S. Navy Selects Defense Unicorns to Advance to Shipboard Deployment Phase of Software Evaluation CHARLESTON, SC – The U.S. Navy has selected Defense Unicorns to advance to the next phase of evaluation under a Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic […] ###### NYSE Floor Talk with Rob Slaughter Rob Slaughter joined Ashley Mastronardi on NYSE Floor Talk to discuss: Watch the full interview on NYSE Floor Talk. June 2026 ###### Rob Slaughter on TBPN – Live from Warhacker Defense Unicorns CEO Rob Slaughter joined TBPN live from Warhacker. He discussed the challenges of delivering modern software to military assets and shared how Defense […] ###### National Review Podcast: How AI Can Help Win Wars At Warhacker, Defense Unicorns CEO Rob Slaughter sat down with National Review to discuss the hackathon, the Spire 71 car at the Anduril 250 Race […] ###### Rob Slaughter in Air & Space Forces Magazine As the U.S. Air Force accelerates its transition to open mission systems and rapid software delivery across both next-generation and legacy aircraft, Defense Unicorns is […] ###### Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Fleet to Put Mission Operators in Command at the Tactical Edge Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Fleet to Put Mission Operators in Command at the Tactical Edge New product gives mission operators unified visibility and control across […] May 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns named to Silicon Valley Defense Group’s NatSec100 The annual NatSec100 highlights the top 100 venture/PE-backed American defense companies that are innovating, building, and delivering warfighting capabilities. We’re honored to be included on […] April 2026 ###### DEFENSE UNICORNS PARTNERS WITH MCDOWELL, SPIRE MOTORSPORTS MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 29, 2026) – Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery, and a veteran-founded military defense technology provider, will join forces with […] ###### San Antonio Express-News: This San Antonio software firm is sponsoring a NASCAR team in a June race The San Antonio Express-News is covering our latest milestone: Defense Unicorns is partnering with Spire Motorsports and driver Michael McDowell for the inaugural NASCAR Cup […] ###### Breaking Defense: Defense Unicorns Chosen by U.S. Navy to test software prototypes for ships Defense Unicorns has been selected by the U.S. Navy to help test a new approach to delivering software to ships. As reported by Breaking Defense, […] March 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns Demonstrates Key Enabler for Continuous Software Delivery on the F-22 EDWARDS AFB, CA – Defense Unicorns, the Airgap Software Company, in partnership with the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate, successfully demonstrated a key enabler […] February 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns and Army C5ISR Center Fast-Track Secure and Mission-Ready Software to Soldiers SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for national security mission systems, announced UDS Army, a […] January 2026 ###### Defense Unicorns on Bloomberg Tech For defense tech specifically, Bloomberg Tech has become the platform for announcing major defense technology deals and funding. Reaching over 400 million homes worldwide, an […] ###### Defense Unicorns: Officially Achieved Unicorn Status We did it! Defense Unicorns has officially achieved unicorn status. Watch CEO Dr. Rob Slaughter announce our $136M Series B raise at a valuation over […] ###### DEFENSE UNICORNS RAISES $136 MILLION SERIES B DEFENSE UNICORNS RAISES $136 MILLION SERIES B TO BUILD THESOFTWARE BACKBONE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WARReaching a $1B valuation underscores Defense Unicorns’ role as modernfoundational […] December 2025 ###### Defense Unicorns UDS Registry Featured on DefenseScoop Defense Unicorns continues to gain recognition for modernizing how the Department of Defense delivers secure software across national security systems. In a recent feature by DefenseScoop, our […] October 2025 ###### Defense Unicorns Joins U.S. Navy’s CANES Next Gen Modernization Effort WASHINGTON, D.C., October 27, 2025 — Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for national security mission systems, announced it has been awarded […] September 2025 ###### Defense Unicorns CEO Rob Slaughter Featured on SAN Interview Defense Unicorns continues to gain national attention for its mission to modernize software delivery across the Department of Defense (DoD). In a recent interview with […] August 2025 ###### Defense Unicorns Accelerates Secure Software Delivery for Defense Missions with RapidFort Partnership strengthens software security posture and enables faster deployments for defense environments RapidFort, the fastest growing cybersecurity company securing the global software supply chain, has […] July 2025 ###### BAE Systems and Defense Unicorns Now Awardable on P1 Marketplace FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BAE Systems and Defense Unicorns selected to provide scalable secure software delivery solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Platform One Solutions […] June 2025 ###### Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Registry FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Registry Ensuring Software is Ready for any Mission, Anytime, Anywhere Making Software a Strategic Deterrent by Delivering Speed, […] May 2025 ###### Defense Unicorns Crushes CMMC Level 2 Certification with Zero Findings Defense Unicorns Crushes CMMC Level 2 Certification with Zero POA&Ms Operating The Way They Preserve Speed, Delivery, and Mission Impact COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 13, […] March 2025 ###### How Defense Unicorns Modernizes DoD Tactical Software Delivery Making Software a Strategic Deterrent Through Tactical Edge Deployments COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Mar. 19, 2025 PRNewswire – Today, Defense Unicorns, a veteran-owned defense tech startup, announced UDS Tactical Edge – […] ###### SAIC and Defense Unicorns Partner to Accelerate DoD Software Delivery Integration of UDS into SAIC ecosystem accelerates delivery of industry-leading software capabilities and expands offerings for defense customers RESTON, Va., March 12, 2025 – Science […] October 2024 ###### Announcing the Airgap Store! Arming Mission Operators for Modern Warfare One App at a TimeWASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2024 — Today, Defense Unicorns, a veteran-founded, Department of Defense (DoD) focused, […] ###### A Game-Changing Approach to Software Delivery for the DoD WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, veteran-founded Defense Unicorns has released its revolutionary new system to the Department of Defense – UDS – a […] --- ### Breaking Defense: Navy Software Trials Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/breaking-defense-defense-unicorns-chosen-by-u-s-navy-to-test-software-prototypes-for-ships/ Defense Unicorns has been selected by the U.S. Navy to help test a new approach to delivering software to ships. As reported by Breaking Defense, the effort focuses on containerized prototypes designed to get secure, mission-ready software into operational environments faster. “This is about getting real capabilities into the hands of the warfighter faster — not in months or years, but when they actually need them. That speed is what wins,” said CEO Robert Slaughter. It’s a step toward making software delivery to the fleet as resilient, repeatable, and scalable as the mission demands. [Link: https://breakingdefense.com/2026/04/navy-selects-leidos-defense-unicorns-to-test-software-prototypes-for-ships/] Read the full article here. --- ### Navy CANES Next Gen Modernization Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-joins-u-s-navys-canes-next-gen-modernization-effort/ WASHINGTON, D.C., October 27, 2025 — Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for national security mission systems, announced it has been awarded a contract to support the U.S. Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) Next Generation modernization effort. As the Navy’s Program of Record for afloat network infrastructure, CANES is deployed on ships, submarines, and shore sites, with Defense Unicorns bringing its airgap-native UDS platform to rapidly deliver software and cyber resilience across the fleet. ##### The Challenge: Modernization at Sea Today’s shipborne networks struggle under the weight of bulky systems, resource constraints, and integration bottlenecks, preventing modernization velocity from matching operational needs. Software updates can take months, and field support is expensive and inflexible. Meanwhile, operators face a mounting burden from unintuitive systems, administrative downtime, and cybersecurity threats, all under the growing urgency to make ship refits faster and less manpower intensive. Defense Unicorns’ effort directly supports strategic Naval technology priorities, including DevSecOps, Zero Trust Architecture, and resilient edge computing, as recently outlined by the Department of the Navy’s Chief Information Officer. ##### UDS: Purpose-Built for Disconnected Operations Defense Unicorns does this through UDS, a proven, airgap-native DevSecOps platform, purpose-built for disconnected and classified environments. With a declarative infrastructure-as-code model, robust automation, and modular delivery, UDS allows the Navy to integrate software once and deploy anywhere, scalable across submarines, destroyers, carriers, and every mission platform in between. Software that once took months to field can now be packaged and deployed in days. Sailor-driven operations are supported through intuitive command line interfaces and mobile app workflows. Built-in zero-trust architecture enables secure operations across multiple enclaves, while SBOM-driven provenance ensures that updates remain verifiable, even in denied, degraded, intermittent, or limited (DDIL) communications environments. > “Making software a strategic deterrent means equipping the sailor to see, decide, and act faster. By modernizing CANES with tools warfighters can deploy and trust, we’re helping the Navy make faster, more informed decisions, at sea and under pressure. That’s how software wins wars.” Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns ##### Empowering Sailors with Modern Tools By giving sailors the tools they need to operate, adapt, and win in today’s dynamic threat environment through intuitive, modular, and secure software products, Defense Unicorns is helping the Navy reduce downtime, simplify updates, and respond faster. This pioneering effort focuses on actionable design concepts aligned with the Navy’s goals for a more modular, scalable, and sailor-friendly afloat network, laying the groundwork for future modernization across platforms and the Joint Force. ##### Get Involved Reach out to learn how we’re delivering software as a strategic deterrent at hello@defenseunicorns.com ###### About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a service-disabled veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. Learn more at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] https://defenseunicorns.com. --- ### Continuous Software Delivery on the F-22 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-demonstrates-key-enabler-for-continuous-software-delivery-on-the-f-22/ EDWARDS AFB, CA – Defense Unicorns, the Airgap Software Company, in partnership with the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate, successfully demonstrated a key enabler for continuous software delivery to the F-22 Raptor. For the first time, software in the F-22 open mission system compute enclave was installed and upgraded on the aircraft in a matter of minutes. When operationalized, this will help enable rapid deployment of new capabilities across the fleet. This demonstration lays the groundwork to enable future Air Force personnel, including pilots and maintainers, to update software capabilities within an Open Mission Systems (OMS) computing environment on the aircraft. Defense Unicorns Unified Defense Stack (UDS) helps make deploying modern software to military systems, like the F-22, simple and secure. Trusted by software teams across the Department of War, UDS enables warfighters to deploy approved software to open mission enclaves within their mission systems. In the future, this technology will enable pilots to update software on their aircraft, ensuring they take off for every mission with the latest software capabilities. “UDS enabled the rapid deployment of a critical capability and the flexibility to adjust,” said Lt Col Gregory “LAB” Bieler, Materiel Leader Software, Autonomy & Teaming. The F-22 now joins several other DoW aircraft demonstrating the efficacy of UDS. The product’s open, modular design and use of commercial standards is helping enable Raptor to field a government owned open compute environment, orchestrating commercial and government software. UDS also enables loading of portable software payloads allowing software capabilities developed for the F-22 open compute environment to be readily installed on other fourth, fifth, and sixth-generation aircraft with compatible compute environments and integration efforts. “For decades, getting new software onto a fighter jet meant months of integration work and dependency on the OEM,” said Rob Slaughter, co-founder and CEO of Defense Unicorns. “With UDS, the F-22 can receive software updates in minutes, on demand, at the edge. Future wars will be won by whoever can adapt fastest. This demonstration proves the U.S. Air Force is building that advantage now.” Capabilities such as UDS are advancing the F-22’s combat effectiveness by creating a pathway for the Air Force to independently accelerate software development and insertion for specific onboard systems. This approach complements the significant, parallel modernization efforts being led by the OEM, together ensuring the F-22 weapon system has the latest capabilities to dominate the battlespace. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a service-disabled, veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. Get more information here: [Link: https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/54911-how-the-f-22-is-getting-software-updates-faster-than-ever] https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/54911-how-the-f-22-is-getting-software-updates-faster-than-ever --- ### C5ISR: Secure Software for Soldiers Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-fast-track-secure-software-to-soldiers/ SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for national security mission systems, announced UDS Army, a new approach cooperatively developed with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) C5ISR Center, will accelerate the continuous delivery of secure, mission-ready software to soldiers. “The Authorization to Operate (ATO) process takes too long and costs too much, locking out innovative companies and delaying capabilities our soldiers need now,” said Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “By collaborating with DEVCOM C5ISR, we’re enabling a faster, safer, and more sustainable way to get secure software into soldiers’ hands.” UDS Army gives commercial software vendors a fast and simple path to bring their capabilities to Army missions at Impact Level (IL) 4 and 5, by combining secure DevSecOps pipelines with pre-authorized Microsoft Azure Government cloud environments. Proving that applications are compliant for national security systems is often prohibitively costly and time-consuming, especially for small, independent software vendors. Earning an ATO through the traditional self-managed authorization process can take 12 to 18 months and require hundreds of engineering hours, leaving warfighters waiting for critical software capabilities. “For the Department of War, the ability to securely deploy software at speed is a strategic imperative, one that directly underpins operational advantage and long-term modernization. Defense Unicorns is accelerating this shift, and Microsoft is excited to be part of an ecosystem that brings secure, cloud-enabled capabilities to the heart of mission execution,” said Leigh Madden, Microsoft’s Vice President for National Security. UDS Army combines multiple technical capabilities into a unified platform: • Authorized DevSecOps Pipeline: Automated security scanning, vulnerability checks, and compliance validation generate the body of evidence needed for AO approval. • Pre-Authorized Environments (IL4/IL5): Approved applications inherit the compliance posture of authorized Army cloud infrastructure, eliminating the need to pursue a separate ATO. • Army App Marketplace: A secure catalog where approved applications can be discovered, demoed, and acquired by Army program managers. • Portable UDS Packages: A single integration supports SaaS, cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge environments — no rebuilds or re-architecting. • Continuous Compliance Automation: Ongoing generation and maintenance of compliance artifacts (e.g., SBOMs) streamlines updates and control inheritance. • SaaS Hosting in cARMY Cloud: Enables SaaS-native vendors to deliver applications directly within the Army’s secure cloud environments. UDS Army is built to help small and mid-sized software companies succeed in the national security ecosystem: • Reduce Time-to-Market: Shrink the ATO timeline from 18 months to as little as 2 weeks. • Lower Compliance Costs: Reduce documentation expenses by more than 70%. • Increase Discoverability: Approved applications are published in the Army App Marketplace • Simplify SaaS Hosting: Deploy applications to pre-authorized IL4 and IL5 environments Software vendors have already begun onboarding to UDS Army, with the first cohort including: HERE, Kana Systems, Lastwall, Petra Data, Sandtable, and Selas Defense. UDS Army gives program managers the “easy button” to acquire, test, and deploy secure commercial applications. By leveraging a marketplace of pre-approved software, the Army can modernize mission systems faster, reduce acquisition costs, and deliver critical digital capabilities directly to soldiers. Defense Unicorns is onboarding software vendors today. To fast-track your applications to the Army, visit [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/army-inquiry/] https://defenseunicorns.com/uds-army. --- ### CMMC Level 2 Certified: Zero Findings Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-crushes-cmmc-level-2-certification-with-zero-findings/ Defense Unicorns Crushes CMMC Level 2 Certification with Zero POA&Ms Operating The Way They Preserve Speed, Delivery, and Mission Impact COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ – Today, [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] Defense Unicorns, a veteran-owned defense tech startup focused on making software a strategic deterrent, announced it has earned final CMMC Level 2 certification, with zero Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms). This milestone authorizes the company to manage Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) under 32 CFR and prepares it for forthcoming 48 CFR enforcement. More significantly, it demonstrates Defense Unicorns’ commitment to protecting the nation by securing mission-critical data and ensuring secure operations across all mission environments. “Achieving our certification with modern tools and a good unicorn experience is massive and puts us at the forefront of defense companies,” said Jeff McCoy, CTO of Defense Unicorns. “There have only been about 130 CMMC assessments across the DIB this year, and they have a 50 percent pass rate. The DoD estimates there are 76,000 companies that need to attain CMMC, and many 3PAOs are booked for a year. Getting certified today isn’t just practical, it’s essential for mission success.” CMMC Level 2 is poised to become the baseline for thousands of defense contractors handling sensitive data. With certification capacity constrained and enforcement deadlines fast approaching, [Link: https://bit.ly/3EZJAFx] Defense Unicorns’ early achievement underscores a mission-first ethos—embedding robust cybersecurity now so critical software can deploy without delay when warfighters need it most. ###### Security by Design, Not as an Afterthought Defense Unicorns treated CMMC as a strategic investment in mission assurance rather than a compliance hurdle. From day one, the company built a security framework tailored to real-world DoD environments by integrating continuous monitoring, strict access controls, and human-factor safeguards. This ensures that secure software delivery happens seamlessly, without sacrificing speed or operational impact. “At Defense Unicorns, security isn’t something we bolt on at the end,” said Alexis Gerst, Lead of Security Vanguard at Defense Unicorns. “It’s woven into everything we do. We don’t just meet cybersecurity standards; we operationalize them in a way that preserves speed, delivery, and mission impact.” Built for Partnership and Compliance Flow-Down As CMMC requirements begin to cascade through the supply chain, Defense Unicorns’ certified posture and secure-by-design [Link: https://bit.ly/439AU7l] UDS platform make it a reliable partner for any program handling CUI. Early certification demonstrates both operational maturity and alignment with evolving DoD cybersecurity expectations, ensuring mission-critical collaboration moves forward without compromise. To learn how [Link: https://bit.ly/3EZJAFx] Defense Unicorns and [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS can safeguard your mission data, contact [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Defense Unicorns. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense tech startup founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of Defense. We build innovative technical solutions to securely develop and deploy mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns is trusted by the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. For more information, visit [Link: https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=4386866-1&h=223329737&u=https%3A%2F%2Fdefenseunicorns.com%2F%3Futm_campaign%3D10000509-2025-03-gtm-UDS-Tactical-Edge%26utm_source%3DPress%2520release%26utm_medium%3DPress%2520release&a=www.defenseunicorns.com] www.defenseunicorns.com --- ### DEFENSE UNICORNS RAISES $136 MILLION SERIES B Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-raises-136-million-series-b/ DEFENSE UNICORNS RAISES $136 MILLION SERIES B TO BUILD THE SOFTWARE BACKBONE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR Reaching a $1B valuation underscores Defense Unicorns’ role as modern foundational infrastructure for secure software delivery across critical military platforms. San Antonio, TX., Jan 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for national security mission systems, announced the completion of a $136 million Series B financing round led by Bain Capital. The investment brings the company to unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, driven by the company’s rapid and profitable growth. The company has seen a 300% increase in adoption year-over-year in military systems. The Department of War is prioritizing modernization and speed, and Defense Unicorns’ platform addresses a critical infrastructure challenge by enabling secure, rapid software updates across disconnected environments from submarines, ships, and aircraft to forward operating bases. Warfighters often operate in conditions where connectivity is limited or nonexistent, and the ability to deploy software updates securely and instantly is now essential to mission success. Unified Defense Stack (UDS) bridges high security requirements while supporting partners and allies with modern software solutions essential for next-generation national security capabilities. “Defense Unicorns gives our nation a wartime software advantage,” said Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “The U.S. has significant commercial software advantages, but the systems we go to war with are typically outdated. At Defense Unicorns, we make software a strategic deterrent by making it easy to deploy and operate software in any mission environment,” continued Dr. Slaughter. The funding round was led by Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities fund, the growth technology platform of Bain Capital. With participation from Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures, and the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David H. Petraeus. “We are thrilled to support Defense Unicorns as it works to ensure that U.S. service members have access to the most advanced, secure, and rapidly deployable software possible. Defense Unicorns plays a vital role in helping the military modernize mission systems, enabling capabilities that directly improve readiness, resilience, and operational advantage in the field,” said Dewey Awad, a Partner at Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. Demand for secure software delivery continues to rise. Marco DeMeireles, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Ansa Capital stated, “We’ve been proud to partner with Defense Unicorns since the Series A, and our continued investment reflects the conviction we’ve built watching the team execute against an incredibly complex and mission-critical problem. What Rob and the team have built is foundational infrastructure for modern defense, and this next chapter only reinforces the scale of impact ahead.” The new capital will enable Defense Unicorns to further scale and integrate open-source and commercial dual-use technology throughout the U.S. military and allied forces. To address the most critical modernization needs in defense, the company plans to advance product development across the following strategic products: ● [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS: A secure, portable, airgap-native runtime platform, purpose-built to solve DOW-specific software delivery challenges. UDS makes deploying and updating software on military systems fast and easy, with essential tools for packaging, deploying, monitoring, and sustaining mission applications. ● [Link: https://registry.defenseunicorns.com/] UDS Registry: The first software registry of its kind to offer the speed, reliability, and mission-critical performance required by military systems operating in the most extreme environments. UDS Registry gives the U.S. and our allies an American-maintained solution that secures our software supply chain and maintains trust and reliability across the software development lifecycle. ● [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/uds-proving-ground/] UDS Army: A new approach to accelerate the continuous delivery of secure, mission-ready software to soldiers. UDS Army gives commercial software vendors a faster, simpler path to bring their capabilities to Army missions by combining secure DevSecOps pipelines with pre-authorized cloud environments. “Before UDS, there was no open, secure, and airgap-native modern software delivery capability for warfighters. More than just a piece of software, UDS is an entire open ecosystem of tools and technologies purpose-built to securely bring capabilities to the field faster. I’m grateful for the incredible teams at Defense Unicorns that continue to evolve UDS to bring even more technical advantage to our nation’s heroes,” concluded Co-Founder and CTO Jeff McCoy. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. Learn more at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com./] https://defenseunicorns.com. About Bain Capital Founded in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms. We are committed to creating lasting impact for our investors, teams, businesses, and the communities in which we live. As a private partnership, we lead with conviction and a culture of collaboration, advantages that enable us to innovate investment approaches, unlock opportunities, and create exceptional outcomes. Our global platform invests across five focus areas: Private Equity, Growth & Venture, Capital Solutions, Credit &Capital Markets, and Real Assets. In these focus areas, we bring deep sector expertise and wide-ranging capabilities. We have 24 offices on four continents, more than 1,850 employees, and approximately $185 billion in assets under management. [Link: http://baincapitaltechopportunities.com/] Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities business aims to help growing technology companies reach their full potential. We focus on companies in large, growing end markets with innovative or disruptive technology where we believe we can support transformational growth. Our dedicated, tenured team has deep experience supporting growing technology businesses—bringing together differentiated backgrounds in private and public equity investing as well as technology operating roles. We invest behind fundamental long-term tailwinds as technology penetrates across industries, creating a large and growing number of investment opportunities. To learn more, visit www.baincapital.com. Follow @BainCapital on LinkedIn and X (Twitter). --- ### Defense Unicorns: Officially Achieved Unicorn Status Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-officially-achieved-unicorn-status/ We did it! Defense Unicorns has officially achieved unicorn status. Watch CEO Dr. Rob Slaughter announce our $136M Series B raise at a valuation over $1 billion on TBPN. --- ### Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Registry Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-launches-uds-registry/ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ###### Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Registry Ensuring Software is Ready for any Mission, Anytime, Anywhere > Making Software a Strategic Deterrent by Delivering Speed, Reliability, and Mission Effectiveness Across Defense Environments WASHINGTON, D.C., June 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for defense mission systems, announced the launch of UDS Registry, a software registry that stores, manages, and distributes Zarf and other OCI (Open Container Initiative) artifacts. UDS Registry is the first software registry of its kind to offer the speed, reliability, and mission-critical performance required by defense systems operating in the most extreme environments. “UDS Registry gives the U.S. and our allies an American-made software solution that secures our software supply chain and maintains trust and reliability across the software development lifecycle—said CEO and co-founder Rob Slaughter. “We are insanely proud of the team at Defense Unicorns that continues to develop world-class software solutions for the most critical and extreme software environments in the world,” continued Slaughter. [Link: https://bit.ly/3HTzHdv] UDS Registry integrates seamlessly with Zarf, the most widely used open-source airgap tool in the world, developed by Defense Unicorns, as well as UDS, Defense Unicorns’ enterprise platform solution, to enable rapid and secure software delivery. Designed to work alongside [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS Core and [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/] UDS Tactical Edge, it offers a centralized capability to manage and verify packages, from container images to complex bundles. Modern warfighters confront a vital obstacle: delivering trusted software into contested, disconnected, and classified environments remains frustratingly slow. Manual processes, fragmented metadata, and unreliable version control introduce delays that undermine both mission readiness and cybersecurity. UDS Registry was purpose-built to remove these barriers. With its airgap-native architecture, UDS Registry gives teams the ability to catalog, validate, and deploy mission software anywhere. Every package is continuously scanned, cryptographically signed, and enriched with a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) data, and procurement metadata. Role-specific views provide tailored access for SREs, operators, and program managers, reducing deployment friction and enhancing visibility across the stack. In just four years, Defense Unicorns has become the world leader in open source software for defense systems, and has built an impressive client base including the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Army, and multiple U.S. cyber initiatives around the globe. “UDS transforms how software moves from development to delivery, bringing speed, trust, and operational clarity to mission-critical environments,” said Jeff McCoy, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Defense Unicorns. “The idea is to give you all the data you need, so regardless of environment or connectivity limitations, you can effectively operate wherever the mission demands.” For more information or to book a demonstration, contact [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Defense Unicorns. About [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/company/] Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense tech startup founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of Defense. We build innovative technical solutions to securely develop and deploy mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. --- ### RapidFort: Secure Software Delivery Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-accelerates-secure-software-delivery-for-defense-missions-with-rapidfort/ Partnership strengthens software security posture and enables faster deployments for defense environments RapidFort, the fastest growing cybersecurity company securing the global software supply chain, has partnered with [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] Defense Unicorns, a veteran-owned defense tech startup, to scale and strengthen its container infrastructure while accelerating deployment of its secure runtime platform for defense missions, Unified Defense Stack (UDS). By leveraging RapidFort’s platform and [Link: https://hub.rapidfort.com/] Curated Near-Zero CVE Images, Defense Unicorns achieved a near-zero CVE state across the UDS platform, accelerated delivery, enhanced compliance, and optimized deployment without the overhead of building internal hardening pipelines. “RapidFort’s experience within classified environments and collaborative approach has made them a trusted partner in helping us deliver secure, reliable software to the teams who need it most, without slowing down mission-critical deployments,” said Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “Their curated images, FIPS-validated modules, and hands-on support enabled our teams to meet compliance requirements effortlessly while accelerating delivery.” Like many organizations delivering software in classified environments, Defense Unicorns faced the challenge of hardening software containers at scale, without delaying delivery. This prompted them to make a “build vs. buy” decision and, after evaluating multiple options and the current ecosystem of secure container vendors, they selected RapidFort as the most effective partner to meet their operational and security goals. RapidFort and Defense Unicorns addressed these challenges by: - Eliminating over 98% of critical and high CVEs in the UDS Core platform compared to upstream images. - Delivering FIPS-validated modules across all 32 UDS Core images to support deployments in compliance-sensitive environments. - Reducing image sizes by a total of 140 MB (5.9%), accelerating deployment in low-bandwidth and tactical edge environments. - Providing engineering collaboration to support fast turnaround on FIPS-compliant builds and resolve emerging issues. - Enabling Defense Unicorns to harden containers for its proprietary products, such as the [Link: https://registry.defenseunicorns.com/] UDS Registry, an OCI-compliant registry launched in June 2025. “Security and speed are equally mission-critical in defense environments, but for many companies, achieving both can feel impossible,” said Mehran Farimani, CEO of RapidFort.” By leveraging RapidFort’s platform and Curated Near-Zero CVE Images, Defense Unicorns proved that it’s possible to accelerate the delivery of secure, compliant software, without compromising mission readiness.” RapidFort, available through [Link: https://www.rapidfort.com/press/rapidfort-assessed-awardable-for-department-of-defense-work-in-the-p1-solutions-marketplace] Platform One, Tradewind Marketplace, [Link: https://www.rapidfort.com/press/rapidfort-now-available-in-aws-marketplace] AWS Marketplace, [Link: https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=OUphUTxd2viVqe8RQwZtO5bse5DduB0ggFCSGMiFzn_aYXwXcQmRSCvW36wvp1zXmUMGid54Zls2oFLr5PJGgsJLjAyxTWLSpfGwHHijcC_ilvm9Eut4cFOIbaRmZJ9E_oUcytjwxmRgXjrtwnehIEPQBFpUWWF58kPjoDDxuboDPZlF2qaDaty494er76wwNoGm0l6NDdxZGoU3IDx-mQ==] Microsoft Azure Marketplace, [Link: https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=sNhHm6UiXKKNKkeUbaHqTsTi8N3hZ2VGKbGbC0JFjCDQlmbq21jNUtq6rkQapEqEg0y6Zx-y5g66DY8qCWzdCmjdaG5UkiA11meyexuyKtXEtMwGszkQfyo7hU-x8aqxWqSqTJDn9-OcWLVPWvulbpfzUfxHqADC7LKUKvTTelWAp9P31sBUQAJv2kK9VFqe-lcJAVUdU5SgClpithD-DIvqcHgAffc4H2wOY46hrGA=] Google Cloud Marketplace, [Link: https://www.carahsoft.com/rapidfort] Carahsoft, and now [Link: https://www.azul.com/newsroom/azul-rapidfort-partner-to-deliver-near-zero-cve-enterprise-grade-java-container-images-backed-by-commercial-java-support/] Azul provides organizations with a reliable and efficient pathway to secure their software supply chain. For more information about the RapidFort platform, please visit: [Link: https://www.rapidfort.com/] https://www.rapidfort.com/ To get started using UDS with RapidFort’s Curated Near-Zero CVE Images to securely deliver software for national security missions, reach out to Defense Unicorns at hello@defenseunicorns.com or [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/?utm_campaign=18729607-2025-08-RapidFort&utm_source=Defense%20Unicorns%20Website%20Contact%20Us%20Page&utm_medium=Press%20Release%20%28RapidFort%29] https://defenseunicorns.com/contact-us. ##### About RapidFort RapidFort offers a cybersecurity platform that streamlines and secures modern infrastructure. Their innovative approach allows organizations to continuously monitor and minimize their software attack surface, ultimately improving their security posture and operational efficiency. RapidFort empowers development and security teams with a free tier and free community images, making it easy to get started with secure software development. Learn more about RapidFort at [Link: https://www.rapidfort.com/] https://www.rapidfort.com/. ##### About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense tech startup founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of Defense. They build innovative technical solutions to securely develop and deploy mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. ‘Defense Unicorns’ is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. Learn more about Defense Unicorns at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/?utm_campaign=18729607-2025-08-RapidFort&utm_source=Defense%20Unicorns%20Website&utm_medium=Press%20Release%20%28RapidFort%29] https://defenseunicorns.com/. ##### Contacts media@defenseunicorns.com --- ### SAIC Partnership: DoD Software Delivery Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/saic-and-defense-unicorns-partner-to-accelerate-dod-software-delivery/ > Integration of UDS into SAIC ecosystem accelerates delivery of industry-leading software capabilities and expands offerings for defense customers RESTON, Va., March 12, 2025 – Science Applications International Corp. (NASDAQ: [Link: https://www.saic.com/] SAIC) and Defense Unicorns announced a strategic partnership to increase the delivery of secure, scalable and mission-critical software capabilities for the Department of Defense (DoD). Through this collaboration, SAIC will integrate Defense Unicorns’ Unified Defense Stack (UDS) into its existing, robust software delivery ecosystem, streamlining how SAIC deploys and maintains applications across cloud, on-premises and tactical edge environments – ultimately improving operational readiness for today’s warfighters. The DoD relies on software to support mission-critical operations across all domains, and traditional software delivery methods often result in fragmented, slow and complex processes. Defense customers need industry partners to bring solutions to the table that address challenges such as bespoke infrastructure, prolonged integration timelines and inconsistent security standards, which can delay the deployment of vital capabilities. By adopting UDS as the standard software delivery platform, SAIC and Defense Unicorns will provide a secure, repeatable and portable solution to seamlessly deploy applications across a diverse range of environments. This allows software teams to field mission-ready applications more efficiently and reduce software delivery timelines from months down to weeks or days. “SAIC is committed to providing our customers an innovative, integrated ecosystem of proven next-generation offerings and strategic partnerships that meet their unique mission needs and accelerate mission outcomes,” said Bob Ritchie, SAIC Chief Technology Officer. “By leveraging UDS, we are reducing complexity and ensuring the government can rapidly and consistently deploy secure, scalable software applications across diverse and challenging operational environments.” With a shared focus to advancing defense technology, SAIC and Defense Unicorns are fundamentally changing how the DoD fields mission-critical software. UDS automates deployment, accelerates compliance and removes integration barriers – ensuring that software updates and new capabilities are delivered without unnecessary delays. “This partnership is a game-changer for the DoD. By integrating SAIC’s mission expertise with the automation and security of UDS, we are revolutionizing how software is delivered at scale,” said Rob Slaughter, Defense Unicorns Chief Executive Officer. “Together, we are enabling warfighters to access the latest capabilities when and where they need them.” SAIC brings more than 50 years of experience in technology integration for government customers, extensive defense industry relationships and the operational expertise to scale UDS across complex programs. By bridging the gap between innovative technology and real-world mission requirements, SAIC and Defense Unicorns are enabling a faster, more secure and scalable approach to software delivery that meets the evolving needs of national defense. As this partnership expands, its impact will extend across multiple defense programs, creating a repeatable and high-velocity software delivery model that enhances DoD modernization efforts. ###### About SAIC [Link: https://www.saic.com/] SAIC is a premier Fortune 500® technology integrator focused on advancing the power of technology and innovation to serve and protect our world. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian and intelligence markets includes secure high-end solutions in mission IT, enterprise IT, engineering services and professional services. We integrate emerging technology, rapidly and securely, into mission critical operations that modernize and enable critical national imperatives. We are approximately 24,000 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $7.4 billion. For more information, visit [Link: https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.saic.com%2F&esheet=53544699&newsitemid=20230825305679&lan=en-US&anchor=saic.com&index=4&md5=45875b49e79e29ff62ee0d92744ff068] saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our [Link: https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.saic.com%2Fwho-we-are%2Fnewsroom&esheet=53544699&newsitemid=20230825305679&lan=en-US&anchor=newsroom&index=5&md5=44b34d164603b339e569ac1df82d7cbe] newsroom. ###### About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a Defense Product Company founded in 2021 to transform how the U.S. Department of Defense buys, builds, delivers, and sustains software capabilities. We build innovative technical solutions to securely develop and deploy mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns is trusted by the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. For more information, visit [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] www.defenseunicorns.com Media Contact: - Caralyn Duke - 757.784.4546 - caralyn.duke@saic.com --- ### BAE Systems on P1 Marketplace Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/bae-systems-and-defense-unicorns-now-awardable-on-p1-marketplace/ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ###### BAE Systems and Defense Unicorns selected to provide scalable secure software delivery solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Platform One Solutions Marketplace MCLEAN, Va. – July 7, 2025 – BAE Systems, in collaboration with Defense Unicorns today announced that their joint software delivery solution has achieved “Awardable” status through the Platform One (P1) Solutions Marketplace. The P1 Solutions Marketplace is a digital repository of post-competition, five-minute long readily-awardable pitch videos, which address the U.S. Government’s greatest requirements in hardware, software and service solutions. BAE Systems’ solutions are designed to deliver scalable, secure DevSecOps capabilities that directly support the Government’s digital modernization priorities. Developed in cooperation with Defense Unicorns, using their Unified Defense Stack (UDS) secure software delivery platform, this integrated solution builds on technologies already trusted across the DoD and used by a wide range of defense organizations, including the U.S. Air Force, strategic deterrence programs, and other critical national security initiatives. > “Joining the P1 Solutions Marketplace reflects our mission to integrate automation, autonomy, and AI into scalable DevSecOps solutions,” said Sam Bushell, director of tech development for BAE Systems’ Intelligence and Security sector. “Our aim is to empower the DoD with rapid, resilient, and intelligent capabilities that drive decision advantage at mission speed.” BAE Systems’ video, accessible only by government customers on the P1 Solutions Marketplace, presents an actual use case in which the company demonstrated a scalable, cloud agnostic DevSecOps platform, that leverages UDS to accelerate secure software delivery across environments. BAE Systems was recognized among a competitive field of applicants to the P1 Solutions Marketplace whose solutions demonstrated innovation, scalability, and potential impact on DoD missions. Government customers interested in viewing the video solution can create a P1 Solutions Marketplace account at [Link: https://p1-marketplace.com/] https://p1-marketplace.com/. About the P1 Solutions Marketplace: The P1 Solutions Marketplace is a digital repository of post-competition, readily awardable pitch videos that address the Department of Defense’s (DoD) most significant challenges in hardware, software and service solutions. All awardable solutions have been assessed through complex scoring rubrics and competitive procedures and are available to Government customers with a Marketplace account. Government customers can create an account at [Link: https://p1-marketplace.com/] https://p1-marketplace.com/. For more information contact [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Defense Unicorns. --- ### Defense Unicorns Awarded $350M Single Award IDIQ to Accelerate Software Delivery for the Department of War Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-awarded-350m-single-award-idiq-to-accelerate-software-delivery-for-the-department-of-war/ SAN ANTONIO, Texas, September 30, 2026 — Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery for national security missions, announced today it has been awarded a DoW-wide single-award, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) with a ceiling value of $350 million. The vehicle gives any DoW organization direct access to Defense Unicorns’ software products to include Unified Defense Stack (UDS) Enterprise and UDS Fleet. “This IDIQ puts our proven UDS platform on contract for the entire Department of War.” said Rob Slaughter, co-founder and CEO of Defense Unicorns. “We built UDS for environments where connectivity isn’t guaranteed and failure isn’t an option. This is the new model for defense acquisition: commercial technology, on demand. No more trade-offs between mission speed and defense in-depth security.” Single-award IDIQs allow ordering activities to issue task orders without running a new competition for each requirement. Under this vehicle, any DoW organization can acquire Defense Unicorns products through a streamlined task order process, reducing the time between identifying a need and getting software into use. UDS Enterprise provides the hardened runtime and shared cyber services that let mission software run securely in cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. UDS Fleet gives program offices a single control plane to manage and update software across distributed operational environments at scale. Both products are now available to DoW customers. This award follows a growing portfolio of Defense Unicorns customers within the U.S. Army and greater Department of War. Existing customers include the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Space Force, with software deployed across more than 100 mission systems and organizations. Defense Unicorns is accessible to federal agencies, including DHS and CISA, through additional procurement vehicles. DoW organizations can begin issuing task orders under the IDIQ immediately. --- ### DIU Selects Defense Unicorns to Accelerate Air Mobility Command OMEN Efforts Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/diu-selects-defense-unicorns-omen-efforts/ UDS Fleet will help commanders and aircrews deploy, update, monitor, and sustain mission software across contested, disconnected, and operationally constrained environments. [SAN ANTONIO, TX] September 15, 2026 – Defense Unicorns, a veteran-owned defense technology company, today announced its selection to support the Defense Innovation Unit’s Open Mission Engine (OMEN) program for Air Mobility Command (AMC). Defense Unicorns will deliver UDS Fleet as an enabling capability to extend the operational utility, deployment, interoperability, management, and sustainment of OMEN and related mission services across the AMC fleet. The effort, resourced by the OUSW(A&S) Operational Energy Prototyping Fund, is designed to turn near-real-time fuel and mobility data into actionable information for commanders and accelerate the transition from prototype to enduring fielded capability. “Every software delay has a mission cost, and in contested environments that cost can show up in airmen and American lives. UDS Fleet ensures that when operations need a critical software update they can get it securely and on-demand, when the mission matters most. At Defense Unicorns, we build the software the Department of War relies on, when the stakes are the highest, and when operations must survive contact with peer conflict. We’re moving Department of War continuous software updates from diagrams on a PPT slide into real mission capabilities,” said Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-fleet/] UDS Fleet provides Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL)-resilient system administration, orchestration, fleet management, software distribution, and cybersecurity capabilities purpose-built for airgapped and tactical edge environments. The solution enables mission applications to be packaged as immutable, self-contained artifacts; deployed without network connectivity; restored to a known-good operational baseline in minutes; and managed through operator-accessible web, tablet, and mobile interfaces. For OMEN, Defense Unicorns will enhance UDS Fleet with features designed to give commanders and program offices visibility into deployed software, system health, configuration state, and operational availability across distributed aircraft without dependence on continuous reachback. These enhancements will help AMC and its supporting program offices keep their aircraft mission ready in an era of increased cyber threats. By replacing manual, error-prone sustainment processes with a repeatable, software-defined approach, UDS Fleet helps OMEN move from an open mission systems connectivity framework to an operational capability that directly supports aircrew decision-making in flight. The platform is designed to keep mission systems available, secure, and effective through outages, cyber events, loss of connectivity, and other operational disruptions. Component software in UDS Fleet has flown on the F-22, F-16, C-17, and a Navy Category 2 UAS, and is deployed across multiple classification levels within the Department of War. Defense Unicorns has also demonstrated rapid deployment and sustainment of mission software through programs including Project Viper, Project Fox, ATOMS, and AFLCMC/WA. Other companies selected for the OMEN award include Stator Integration Labs, which will deliver advanced data fusion and spatio-temporal reasoning capabilities that help OMEN turn mission data into operational insight, and Air Space Intelligence (ASI), which will provide a Common Operating Picture to support planning, situational awareness, and decision-making in contested environments. Together, these capabilities are intended to transform fuel and mobility data into decision advantage for commanders operating in contested logistics environments. “OMEN represents exactly the kind of problem we set out to solve when we founded Defense Unicorns: getting mission software into the hands of warfighters faster than the threats they are facing. We are thrilled to help provide the platform foundation that will keep this capability deployable, updatable, and resilient across the fleet,” said Jeff McCoy, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Defense Unicorns. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, airgapped, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by operators of critical systems across the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. Learn more at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] https://defenseunicorns.com. --- ### Air & Space Forces Magazine Highlights DIU OMEN Contract Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/air-space-forces-magazine-highlights-diu-omen-contract/ The Defense Innovation Unit and Air Mobility Command awarded deals to Defense Unicorns, Stator Integration Labs, and Air Space Intelligence, each providing different tools to move the prototype software to production and deployment across AMC platforms. OMEN creates a “common operating picture” for mobility forces that have long lacked sophisticated connectivity. [Link: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/amc-software-omen-common-operating-picture-updates/] Read more here. --- ### Lauren Knausenberger Named Chief Business Officer at Defense Unicorns Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-names-lauren-knausenberger-chief-business-officer/ Strategic technology leader and former Department of the Air Force CIO joins Defense Unicorns to accelerate growth and advance software as a deterrent to war [San Antonio, TX], September 2, 2026 —Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery and national security missions, today announced that Lauren Knausenberger has joined the company as Chief Business Officer. Knausenberger brings decades of experience advancing technology, digital transformation, cybersecurity, and innovation across mission-critical government and defense environments. In her new role, she will help drive Defense Unicorns’ growth strategy, strengthen strategic partnerships, and expand the company’s impact across the defense ecosystem. “Lauren brings the rare combination of technical depth, business leadership, and mission focus that Defense Unicorns needs as we continue to scale,” said Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “She understands the urgency facing our mission customers and the role software and AI can play in helping them move faster, operate more securely, and deliver greater mission impact. We are thrilled to welcome her to the team and look forward to the leadership and perspective she will bring.” “One of my core missions since serving as CIO of the Department of the Air Force has been to make software a true deterrent to war by giving our military and our allies the speed, resilience, interoperability, and technological advantage they need to prevent conflict first, and fight and decisively win when we must,” said Lauren Knausenberger, Chief Business Officer of Defense Unicorns. “ Defense Unicorns is building the exact capabilities that we need to easily deploy software and AI where and when our warfighters and leaders need it most. I’ve already seen their software save lives, save money, and save soul sucking time that can go to other parts of critical missions. I’m excited to help scale that impact and support the team as it builds the software foundation for the future of defense, and even more excited to do it with this exceptional and fun group of unicorns.” Most recently, Knausenberger served as Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at SAIC, where she led strategy, AI-enabled transformation, rapid capability development, strategic technology partnerships, and SAIC Ventures. SAIC provides engineering, digital, artificial intelligence, and mission solutions across the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets. Prior to joining SAIC, Knausenberger served as Chief Information Officer of the Department of the Air Force, where she was responsible for Enterprise IT, Cybersecurity, Data and Artificial Intelligence. She supported approximately 20,000 cyber operations and support personnel around the globe and oversaw a technology portfolio valued at approximately $17 billion. As CIO, Knausenberger drove transformative changes to Air and Space Force digital infrastructure by scaling enterprise cloud networks, establishing continuous software delivery, overhauling security accreditation processes, democratizing digital learning, and defining the zero trust and AI foundation to support a modern, software-defined force.Knausenberger also serves as a board member for Enersys (NYSE: ENS), a member of the AFCEA Executive Committee, and an advisor to private capital investing in defense technology. Knausenberger’s appointment comes as Defense Unicorns continues to expand its role in modernizing defense software and enabling the rapid delivery of secure, interoperable capabilities to the warfighter. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. --- ### National Review:The New Generation of Defense Wizards Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/national-reviewthe-new-generation-of-defense-wizards/ National Review explores how a new generation of defense technology companies is bringing Silicon Valley speed and ingenuity to the Pentagon. From the Anduril 250, where the No. 71 Defense Unicorns Chevrolet raced aboard Naval Base Coronado, to Warhacker, where teams tackled real mission challenges in hours instead of months, the article highlights how Defense Unicorns is helping reduce technical and bureaucratic barriers to innovation and get critical capabilities into the hands of the warfighter faster. [Link: https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2026/10/the-new-generation-of-defense-wizards/] Read More Here. --- ### Rob Slaughter on the Fighter Pilot Podcast Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/rob-slaughter-on-the-fighter-pilot-podcast/ What does it take to update software on an F-22, or deliver critical capabilities to a disconnected battlefield? Rob Slaughter joins the [Link: https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/] Fighter Pilot Podcast to discuss how the Department of War can modernize the way it builds, delivers, and updates software. The conversation covers defense innovation, air-gapped environments, and what it takes to get modern software to the fight. Watch the full interview below, or listen on [Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fpp224-the-software-problem/id1330534712?i=1000789530036] Apple Podcasts, [Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6hORm43l73jeUoM0Q1RxzZ] Spotify, or Overcast. --- ### Stephanie Holman Named to Talent 100 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/stephanie-holman/ Defense Unicorns “You just got to be human, because the person on the other end is also human.” Stephanie Holman’s path into recruiting began in education. As a school guidance counselor and later in higher education, she helped students choose degrees and prepare for what came next. What increasingly interested her, however, was the part of the journey she rarely got to see: what happened when those students entered the workforce. Recruiting gave her the opportunity to become part of that next chapter. Today at Defense Unicorns, Holman sees herself as a first point of contact for people considering a significant career change, bringing many of the same counseling instincts—listening, guidance, and empathy—into talent acquisition. ###### A Counselor’s Instincts in Recruiting Holman sees her move from education into recruiting as an evolution rather than a complete career change. As a counselor, her job was to understand what someone wanted, help them navigate their options, and provide clarity around an important decision. Recruiting requires many of the same skills, except the opportunity is already in front of the person. That background has shaped how she approaches candidates. A career decision can significantly change someone’s life, so Holman believes recruiters have a responsibility to listen carefully, communicate clearly, and represent candidates accurately throughout the process. ###### AI as a Tool for Advocacy Holman was initially resistant to AI. One concern was that recording and analyzing conversations could change the natural quality of an interaction and potentially make candidates uncomfortable. Her perspective changed when she began thinking about the technology as a tool for candidate advocacy. Holman recruits technical talent but is careful not to pretend she has the same expertise as an engineer. During conversations, she needs to listen actively while simultaneously capturing technical details accurately. Tools such as BrightHire can record and transcribe those conversations, reducing the possibility that important information gets lost or distorted when it reaches the hiring team. For Holman, that is where AI becomes valuable. Rather than replacing her interaction with candidates, it can preserve what candidates actually said and help her represent their experience more faithfully ###### Find Where AI Makes Sense Holman believes recruiters and businesses will increasingly need to engage with AI, but she does not advocate adopting technology simply because it is available. Her advice is to examine individual workflows and determine where AI creates genuine value from a business, resource, or time perspective. If technology can eliminate unnecessary work or accelerate a process without compromising the candidate experience, she sees that as a worthwhile improvement. The goal is selective adoption rather than automation everywhere. Recruiters should understand what the tools can do, experiment with them, and keep the pieces that meaningfully improve their work. ###### Keep the Process Human Despite becoming more enthusiastic about AI, Holman’s central philosophy remains rooted in her counseling background. Technology should help recruiters listen better, document conversations more accurately, and advocate more effectively. It should not make them forget that there is a person on the other side of every interaction. For Holman, the best recruiting process combines efficiency with empathy: keep the process clear, keep the candidate’s story accurate, and use technology to strengthen rather than replace the human relationship. ###### About the Talent 100 The Talent 100 is an annual recognition spotlighting leaders who are advancing HR and talent acquisition. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees, with selection based entirely on merit and no pay-to-play requirements. The recognition is organized by [Link: https://www.noon.ai/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Noon AI. --- ### Events Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/ #### Defense Unicorns Events Hack into a deeper understanding of modern software delivery for your mission. Nov 11, 2026 6:30-9:30pm ###### ZarfFest Oct. 26-29, 2026 Booth TB209 ###### TechNet Indo-Pacific Oct. 12-14, 2026 MICROSOFT Booth 2415 ###### AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition ###### Past Events Aug. 9-12, 2026 Booth #1508 ###### DODIIS Worldwide Aug. 24-26, 2026 Booth 314 ###### DAFITC Sep. 8-10, 2026 Booth TBD ###### Peak Cyber Symposium Sep. 14-16, 2026 Booth MB113 ###### AFA Air Space Cyber June 16-19 2026 ###### Warhacker May-18-2026 ###### Open Source Summit and Embedded Linux Conference Apr. 13-16, 2026 Booth 13 ###### Space Symposium June. 2-4, 2026 Booth 2310 ###### AFCEA TechNet Cyber Mar. 24-26, 2026 Booth 1525 ###### Global Force --- ### Warhacker Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/warhacker/ It’s Warhacking Time! ##### Get Software to Warfighters. Warhacker is a first-of-its-kind hackathon bringing together government, industry, academia, and non-profits to BUILD, PACKAGE, and DEPLOY software solutions to warfighter problems. Warhacker is not a conference with a speaker lineup or vendor hall. At Warhacker, we’re coming together to build, learn, and DELIVER. Don’t Stop at Prototype. ###### Shoot for Prod. You may build an exquisite software capability, but if it can’t be deployed and authorized on the mission systems that matter, it’s not doing any good. At Warhacker, we take solutions across the finish line by packaging them with the open source [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] UDS Core platform so they’re ready for rapid deployment and authorization anywhere – from cloud to edge. Warhackers measure success by the number of apps in mission environments. We’re on the hunt for problems to solve. ###### Come with problems. Build the solution. Tell us about mission problems you face that need a software solution. Are you a software vendor with an existing capability that’s struggling to get deployed and/or authorized on DOW systems? That’s a problem. BRING IT! Are you a military member relying on an overly complicated and questionably constructed Excel spreadsheet for mission-critical tasks? Are you a defense researcher or lab lead stuck managing classified experiments, test data, and export-control rules with a maze of shared drives, email chains, and legacy portals? We’ll select the top problems to form Warhacking teams. Ready to Warhack? ###### Join us. Warhacker is free to attend, and we welcome Warhackers from Government, Industry, Academia, and Nonprofit organizations. We are limited to around 400 Warhackers for this inaugural event and will curate the attendee list to ensure equitable distribution amongst those groups aligned with problems. Please note: information about the next Warhacker event will be available soon. ##### FAQ If you can’t find the answers you’re looking for here, reach out at warhacker@defenseunicorns.com. We will continue to add FAQs to this page. ###### What is Warhacker? Warhacker is a first-of-its-kind hackathon that brings together makers from government, industry, academia, and non-profits to build, package, and deploy software solutions to warfighter problems. Warhacker is not your typical conference, with a speaker lineup and vendor hall. If you’re coming to Warhacker, you’re coming to build, learn, and deliver. The difference between Warhacker and other defense hackathons is that we don’t stop at prototypes. Warhackers take their solutions across the finish line, packaging them with the open source [Link: https://github.com/defenseunicorns/uds-core] UDS Core platform so they’re ready for rapid deployment and authorization in any environment – from cloud to edge. ###### When and Where is Warhacker? The plans for the next Warhacker event will be shared soon. ###### When will I find out if my application is approved? Please note: applications are currently closed. You will receive a confirmation email when your application is approved. Please refer to that for information regarding the event schedule, location, and other details. ###### Who owns the data rights for Warhacker solutions? Open source is at the heart of Defense Unicorns, and our goal is to maximize Government access and rights to continue developing and using solutions started at Warhacker. We do what’s best for the warfighter. Our default stance is to publish all new solutions originating from Warhacker as AGPL-3.0-licensed open source software. When an application cannot be publicly disclosed, we will pursue alternate licensing routes on a case-by-case basis to maximize access for the Government. Commercial software vendors that bring their existing IP and extend its capability will retain full rights to the original IP and all enhancements built during Warhacker. (We are not here to steal your software.) If you have additional questions about your specific situation, reach out at warhacker@defenenseunicorns.com. We have a brilliant lawyer who loves this stuff! --- ### AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-ausa-2026/ ##### MG Harry Greene AUSA national reception Defense Unicorns is proud to sponsor the MG Harry Greene National Reception during AUSA! Join us Monday evening at Capital Burger for food, drinks, networking, and meet the Defense Unicorns team. Monday, October 12 | 5:30–9:00 PM Capital Burger | Washington, DC ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### ZarfFest - A Defense Unicorns x OpenSSF Happy Hour Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/zarffest/ ##### Reserve your spot ZarfFest: A KubeCon Happy Hour Presented by Defense Unicorns and OpenSSF Please note: This event is limited to guests ages 21 and older. Join Defense Unicorns and OpenSSF for ZarfFest, a happy hour bringing together the open source, cloud native, and software security communities during KubeCon. Connect with fellow builders, maintainers, and open source enthusiasts over drinks, light bites, and good conversation. Whether you use Zarf, contribute to open source, or simply want to meet others working to make software more secure and deployable anywhere, you’re invited. Come for the community. Stay for the Zarf vibes. Space is limited, so register early. --- ### Privacy Policy Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/privacy-policy/ Our Privacy Policy was last updated and posted on February 22, 2022. It governs the privacy terms of our Website, located at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] DefenseUnicorns.com , sub-domains, and any associated web-based and mobile applications (collectively, “Website”), as owned and operated by Defense Unicorns. Any capitalized terms not defined in our Privacy Policy, have the meaning as specified in our [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/site-terms-of-service/] Site Terms of Service Your privacy is very important to us. Accordingly, we have developed this Policy in order for you to understand how we collect, use, communicate, disclose, and make use of personal information. We use your Personal Information only for providing and improving the website. By using the website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, accessible at [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] DefenseUnicorns.com . The following outlines our privacy policy. ###### Your Privacy Defense Unicorns follow all legal requirements to protect your privacy. Our Privacy Policy is a legal statement that explains how we may collect information from you, how we may share your information, and how you can limit our sharing of your information. We utilize the Personal Data you offer in a way that is consistent with this Personal privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data for a particular reason, we could make use of the Personal Data in connection with the reason for which it was provided. For example, registration info sent when developing your account, might be used to suggest products to you based on past acquisitions. We might use your Personal Data to offer access to services on the Website and monitor your use of such services. Defense Unicorns may also utilize your Personal Data and various other personally non-identifiable info gathered through the Website to assist us with improving the material and functionality of the Website, to much better comprehend our users, and to improve our services. You will see terms in our Privacy Policy that are capitalized. These terms have meanings as described in the Definitions Section below. When you use this site Defense Unicorns, Inc. will store cookies on your computer in order to facilitate and customize your use of the site. Please be aware that cookies can later be retrieved to identify users to Defense Unicorns Inc. Our cookies store pages that users are visiting, duration of the users visit, and where the user’s pointer lands on our page (This is not an exhaustive list). The cookies make your use of the site easier, make the site run more smoothly and help us to maintain a secure site. Please take further note, this website uses Google signals data collection. You are free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but some parts of our site may not work properly in that case. When you use this site Defense Unicorns, Inc. will store cookies on your computer in order to facilitate and customize your use of the site. Please be aware that cookies can later be retrieved to identify users to Defense Unicorns Inc. Our cookies store pages that users are visiting, duration of the users visit, and where the user’s pointer lands on our page (This is not an exhaustive list). The cookies make your use of the site easier, make the site run more smoothly and help us to maintain a secure site. Please take further note, this website uses Google signals data collection. 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If you do not want us to use your location for the purposes set forth above, you should turn off the location services for the mobile application located in your account settings or in your mobile phone settings and/or within the mobile application. ###### Automatic Information We automatically receive information from your web browser or mobile device. This information includes the name of the website from which you entered our Website, if any, as well as the name of the website to which you’re headed when you leave our website. This information also includes the IP address of your computer/proxy server that you use to access the Internet, your Internet Website provider name, web browser type, type of mobile device, and computer operating system. We use all of this information to analyze trends among our Users to help improve our Website. ###### Log Data Like many Website operators, we collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Website (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type browser version, the pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages and other statistics. ###### How We Use Your Information We use the information we receive from you as follows: ###### Customizing Our Website We may use the Personally Identifiable information you provide to us along with any computer information we receive to customize our Website. ###### Sharing Information with Affiliates and Other Third Parties We do not sell, rent, or otherwise provide your Personally Identifiable Information to third parties for marketing purposes. We may provide your Personally Identifiable Information to affiliates that provide services to us with regard to our Website (i.e. payment processors, Website hosting companies, etc.); such affiliates will only receive information necessary to provide the respective services and will be bound by confidentiality agreements limiting the use of such information. ###### Legally Required Releases of Information We may be legally required to disclose your Personally Identifiable Information, if such disclosure is (a) required by subpoena, law, or other legal process; (b) necessary to assist law enforcement officials or government enforcement agencies; (c) necessary to investigate violations of or otherwise enforce our Legal Terms; (d) necessary to protect us from legal action or claims from third parties including you and/or other Members; and/or (e) necessary to protect the legal rights, personal/real property, or personal safety of Defense Unicorns, our Users, employees, and affiliates. ###### Links to Other Websites Our Website may contain links to other websites that are not under our direct control. These websites may have their own policies regarding privacy. We have no control over or responsibility for linked websites and provide these links solely for the convenience and information of our visitors. You access such linked Websites at your own risk. These websites are not subject to this Privacy Policy. You should check the privacy policies, if any, of those individual websites to see how the operators of those third-party websites will utilize your personal information. In addition, these websites may contain a link to Websites of our affiliates. The websites of our affiliates are not subject to this Privacy Policy, and you should check their individual privacy policies to see how the operators of such websites will utilize your personal information. ###### Security The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We utilize practical protection measures to safeguard against the loss, abuse, and modification of the Individual Data under our control. Personal Data is kept in a secured database and always sent out by means of an encrypted SSL method when supported by your web browser. No Web or email transmission is ever totally protected or mistake cost-free. ###### Privacy Policy Updates We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to this policy, we may notify you on our Website, by a blog post, by email, or by any method we determine. The method we chose is at our sole discretion. We will also change the “Last Updated” date at the beginning of this Privacy Policy. Any changes we make to our Privacy Policy are effective as of this Last Updated date and replace any prior Privacy Policies. ###### Questions About Our Privacy Practices or This Privacy Policy We are committed to conducting our business in accordance with these principles in order to ensure that the confidentiality of personal information is protected and maintained. If you have any questions about our Privacy Practices or this Policy, please contact us. --- ### Site Terms of Service Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/site-terms-of-service/ #### Website Terms Of Service ##### Last Updated: February 22, 2022 This page represents a legal document that serves as our Terms of Service and governs the legal terms of our website, [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] DefenseUnicorns.com , sub-domains, and any associated web-based and mobile applications (collectively, “Website”), as owned and operated by Defense Unicorns. Capitalized terms, unless otherwise defined, have the meaning specified within the Definitions Section below. This Terms of Service, along with our Privacy Policy, any mobile license agreement, and other posted guidelines within our Website, collectively “Legal Terms”, constitute the entire and only agreement between you and Defense Unicorns, and supersede all other agreements, representations, warranties, and understandings with respect to our Website and the subject matter contained herein. We may amend our Legal Terms at any time without specific notice to you. The latest copies of our Legal Terms will be posted on our Website, and you should review all Legal Terms prior to using our Website. After any revisions to our Legal Terms are posted, you agree to be bound to any such changes to them. Therefore, it is important for you to periodically review our Legal Terms to make sure you still agree to them. By accessing this website, you are agreeing to be bound by these Website Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this Website are protected by applicable copyright and trademark law. The last update to our Terms of Service was posted on February 22, 2022. ###### Definitions Defense Unicorns follow all legal requirements to protect your privacy. Our Privacy Policy is a legal statement that explains how we may collect information from you, how we may share your information, and how you can limit our sharing of your information. We utilize the Personal Data you offer in a way that is consistent with this Personal privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data for a particular reason, we could make use of the Personal Data in connection with the reason for which it was provided. For example, registration info sent when developing your account, might be used to suggest products to you based on past acquisitions. We might use your Personal Data to offer access to services on the Website and monitor your use of such services. Defense Unicorns may also utilize your Personal Data and various other personally non-identifiable info gathered through the Website to assist us with improving the material and functionality of the Website, to much better comprehend our users, and to improve our services. You will see terms in our Privacy Policy that are capitalized. These terms have meanings as described in the Definitions Section below. The terms “us” or “we” or “our” refers to Defense Unicorns, the owner of the Website. - A “Visitor” is someone who merely browses our Website, but has not registered as a Member. - A “Member” is an individual that has registered with us to use our Service. - Our “Service” represents the collective functionality and features as offered through our Website to our Members. - A “User” is a collective identifier that refers to either a Visitor or a Member. - All text, information, graphics, audio, video, and data offered through our Website are collectively known as our “Content”. ###### Use License Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Defense Unicorns’s Website for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not: 1. modify or copy the materials; 2. use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial); 3. attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on Defense Unicorns’s website; 4. remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; or 5. transfer the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server. ###### Restricted Uses Listing of offered products on the Website could be used only for lawful purposes by Users of the Website. You could not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any hallmark, logo, copyrighted image, or most proprietary details (consisting of images, text, page layout, or type) of Defense Unicorns without express composed consent. You might not use any meta tags or any various other “unseen text” utilizing Defense Unicorn’s name or trademarks without the express written consent of Defense Unicorns. You agree not to offer or modify any content found on the Website consisting of, however not limited to, names of Users and Content, or to recreate, display, openly perform, distribute, or otherwise make use of the Material, in any way for any public function, in connection with services or products that are not those of Defense Unicorns, in other way that is likely to trigger confusion among consumers, that disparages or challenges Defense Unicorns or its licensors, that dilutes the strength of Defense Unicorns’ or its licensor’s residential property, or that otherwise infringes Defense Unicorns’ or its licensor’s copyright rights. You also agree to abstain from abusing any of the material that appears on the Site. The use of the Material on any other website or in a networked computer system environment for any purpose is prohibited. Any code that Defense Unicorns develops to generate or show any Material of the pages making up the Website is likewise secured by Defense Unicorns’s copyright, and you may not copy or adjust such code. Defense Unicorns has no duty to keep track of any products published, transferred, or connected to or with the Site. If you think that something on the Website breaches these Terms please contact our marked representative as set forth below. If alerted by a User of any products which allegedly do not conform to these Terms, Defense Unicorns could in its single discernment explore the allegation and figure out whether to take other actions or ask for the removal or get rid of the Content. Defense Unicorns has no liability or duty to Individuals for efficiency or nonperformance of such activities. ###### Electronic Communication You are connecting with us electronically when you go to the Website or send out emails to us. You consent to get interactions from us online. We will connect with you by email or by uploading notifications on the Site. ###### Legal Compliance You agree to comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations regarding your use of our Website. Defense Unicorns reserves the right to investigate complaints or reported violations of our Legal Terms and to take any action we deem appropriate, including but not limited to canceling your Member account, reporting any suspected unlawful activity to law enforcement officials, regulators, or other third parties and disclosing any information necessary or appropriate to such persons or entities relating to your profile, email addresses, usage history, posted materials, IP addresses & traffic information, as allowed under our Privacy Policy. ###### Data Aggregation We retain the right to collect and use any Non-personal Information collected from your use of our Website and aggregate such data for internal analytics that improve our Website and Service as well as for use or resale to others. At no time is your Personally Identifiable Information included in such data aggregations. ###### Intellectual Property Our Website may contain our service marks or trademarks as well as those of our affiliates or other companies, in the form of words, graphics, and logos. Your use of our Website does not constitute any right or license for you to use such service marks/trademarks, without the prior written permission of the corresponding service mark/trademark owner. Our Website is also protected under international copyright laws. The copying, redistribution, use or publication by you of any portion of our Website is strictly prohibited. Your use of our Website does not grant you ownership rights of any kind in our Website. --- ### Terms of Use Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/terms-of-use/ #### DEFENSE UNICORNS TERMS OF USE Effective Date: Jun 24, 2025 These Terms of Use govern your access to and use of products and services provided by Defense Unicorns, Inc. (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By registering for an account or by accessing or acquiring Defense Unicorns’ products or services (“Offerings”), you (“you”, “Customer”, or “User”) accept and agree to these Terms of Use and all other applicable terms and conditions, policies, or disclaimers found referenced in these Terms of Use (collectively, the “Terms”). If the Customer is entering into this Agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, the Customer represents that: (i) it has full legal authority to bind such entity to this Agreement; and (ii) after reading and understanding the Agreement, it agrees to the terms of this Agreement on behalf of the respective entity, and such terms shall bind such entity. The Customer and Defense Unicorns shall each be referred to as a “Party” and collectively as the “Parties”. Defense Unicorns encourages Customer to read these Terms of Use incorporated by reference herein, carefully. CUSTOMER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT ONCE IT CLICKS TO ACCEPT OR OTHERWISE AGREES TO THIS AGREEMENT, IT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, AND THE CUSTOMER AGREES ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND ITS ORGANIZATION TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. Defense Unicorns retains the right to modify these Terms of Use at any time and at its sole discretion. Should the Customer not consent to such changes, the Customer should discontinue using the Offerings. Continued use of the Offerings by the Customer following any changes to the Terms of Use will be considered acceptance of such new or modified terms. 1. Use of Offering. 1.1 Account. To access and use the Offerings, the Authorized User must provide certain information required in order for Defense Unicorns to create and administer their Account, including name, email address, and billing information (“Account Data”). Customer is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the Account, including any API tokens Defense Unicorns provides that enable Authorized Users to send data to Offerings or access the Account (collectively, “Credentials”). Customer is solely responsible for all activities that occur under Customer’s Account. Customer is responsible for all Authorized Users’ login credentials. Customer must promptly notify Defense Unicorns of any unauthorized use of or access to Offerings or if any Credentials are lost, stolen, or disclosed to an unauthorized third party, or otherwise compromised. Defense Unicorns may suspend or terminate Customer’s Account if any information provided during the registration process or thereafter is or becomes inaccurate, false, or misleading. Thereafter, Customer may be unable to use the Offerings that Customer purchased. Defense Unicorns may also temporarily suspend Customer’s account if Defense Unicorns reasonably suspects that Customer’s Credentials have been compromised for as long as is reasonably necessary to issue new Credentials and restore access to Customer’s Account. 1.2 Authorized Users. Only Authorized Users may access and use the Offerings. Employees and contractors working on behalf of and authorized by Customer or a Customer Affiliate (each an “Authorized User”) may access and use the Offerings. Customer will (i) inform Authorized Users of all of Customer’s own policies and practices that are relevant to the Authorized Users’ use of the Offerings; and (ii) obtain all rights, permissions and consents from Authorized Users and other Customer personnel or contractors that are necessary (x) to grant the rights and licenses set forth in this agreement, and (y) for the lawful use and operation of the Offerings. 1.3 Conditions of Use. Customer will use Offerings only in accordance with these Term and (any applicable) Order Form, including any usage parameters, limitations, or restrictions. Customer agrees to use Offerings solely for Customer’s own personal or internal business use and in accordance with applicable law. Customer may only permit Authorized Users working for its organization to use the Offerings. 1.4 Usage Limits and Overage Charges. Customer agrees that Authorized Users will not use Services beyond the Capacity that Customer is authorized for such Services and that Defense Unicorns may impose limits on usage of Services beyond that Capacity. 1.5 License to Host Customer Data. - Customer Data. Customer retains all ownership and other rights in any data that Customer transmits to, uploads to, processes on, or stores in its instance of the SaaS Services or on its Account, including images, audio, text, and other works of authorship (“Customer Data”). Nothing in this agreement will be deemed to restrict any rights that Customer may have to use and exploit Customer Data. If Customer purchases SaaS Services or otherwise uploads Customer Data to Defense Unicorns, Customer represents and warrants that it or its licensors own all right, title, and interest in and to Customer Data and have all rights in the Customer Media necessary and sufficient to transmit to, upload to, run on, process on, or store in the SaaS Service, and to grant the rights to Defense Unicorns contemplated by this agreement. Customer is solely responsible for all Customer Data, including but not limited to the development, operation, maintenance, and use of all Customer Data and the results it obtains using Customer Data. - Metadata. Customer’s use of the Offerings may also generate device and network information including application telemetry, IP addresses or configurations, stored sessions, open ports, account credentials, network metadata, network connectivity, device operating system, status, version, and configuration information, and other system-level information that is not accessible in the ordinary course of use to end users of Defense Unicorns’ Offerings (collectively “Metadata”). - License Grant. Customer hereby grants to Defense Unicorns a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully-paid and transferable license to collect, access, process, reproduce, modify, transmit, store, and otherwise use any Customer Data and Metadata provided by Customer to Defense Unicorns (i) to administer, develop, improve and support Customer’s use of the Offerings, and (ii) in support of Defense Unicorns’ development of related technologies, solutions and devices in accordance with Defense Unicorns’ standard data retention policies and procedures, and these Terms. 1.6 Data Privacy and Security. The security of Customer Data is very important to Defense Unicorns. Defense Unicorns takes commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Customer Data in accordance with the best practices recommended by our cloud storage and computing providers and their respective shared responsibility models. Please take advantage of the security features provided within the Offerings, safeguard Customer’s credentials, and report any suspected security incidents to us. In order to provide the Offerings, Defense Unicorns may process technical and related personal information related to Customer’s use of the Offerings, which may include application telemetry, internet protocol address and configurations, stored sessions, open ports, account credentials, hardware identification numbers or other factors, system status, information identifying operating systems, application software, and peripheral hardware, and other non-personally identifiable data. Such data will be used to facilitate the provisioning of Updates, Software, and Services. Defense Unicorns may transfer such information to its processors, suppliers, or affiliates as reasonably necessary in order to provide the Offerings. Defense Unicorns will, at all times, process any personal information shared by Customer as a “service provider” within the meaning of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Defense Unicorns will not further collect, sell, or use any such personal information except as necessary in order to provide the Offering, which may include disclosures to our own service providers or contractors as set forth below. 1.6.1 Sources of personal data. Defense Unicorns processes personal data provided by data subjects themselves or collected when they use our Services: (a) registration information required for registering the Services: when you choose to sign up for our Service (or through any other third-party account permitted by Defense Unicorns), you are also authorizing us to receive, store, and use such information that you have agreed that such other third parties could provide to us through their application programming interface; (b) information you may provide when you communicate with us by phone, e-mail, or otherwise, provided you have been duly informed by us that we may monitor and record phone calls, e-mails, live chats, or other communications between you and our Service representatives or other Defense Unicorns’ representatives, to improve and monitor the quality of our Services; (c) you may provide your information through web forms to be contacted by us or to submit your request or query to us; (d) you may provide us information we need to check your identity as part of our KYC procedures; (e) you may provide information on behalf of another person or entity, where, if you completed the registration on behalf of another entity or if you otherwise provide information regarding another person or entity, you represent to us that you were authorized by that person or entity to use the submitted information; and (e) when you visit or access our Services, upon your consent, we may use (and authorize 3rd parties to use) pixels, cookies and other technologies (collectively, “Cookies”). 1.6.2. Personal data we process. Defense Unicorns processes personal data related to its potential and current customers (individuals or representatives of legal entities), individuals who actually use the Services (users), and users of the Website. The categories of processed personal data include: (a) full name; (b) contact information such as email address, phone number; Job title; (c) company name; (d) company size; (e) company industry; (f) other information provided by the customer in the registration form; (g) payment and billing details; (h) authentication or authorization data; Information contained in support requests; (i) metadata: personal data Defense Unicorns collects or generates during the provision and administration of the cloud services, information about user’s preference and usage of the Service, including user identifiers, authentication credentials, resource identifiers and attributes, IP-addresses, cloud settings and configurations; (j) we collect information about operational status, software errors and crash reports, quality and performance metrics, and other technical details necessary for us to operate and maintain cloud services and related software; (k) type and device ID, identifiers from cookies or tokens; (l) browser type and version; (m) geographical location based on the IP address; (n) service access times; (o) statistics on page views and time spent on pages; (p) information about usage of the Website obtained through Cookies or similar technologies; and (q) your direct communications, where we may keep records of your communications and interactions with us, for example, when you provide feedback or contact information, ask questions or seek technical support. 1.6.3. Data Collection and Use. Defense Unicorns collects personal and technical information to: (i) operate and improve the Service; (ii) manage user accounts and authenticate access; (iii) provide customer support; (iv) prevent fraud or abuse; and (v) conduct analytics and send relevant communications. 1.6.4. Data Retention and Management. We may retain your data as long as necessary for business purposes or legal compliance. This includes logs, backups, and records necessary for audits, troubleshooting, and security. 1.6.5. CCPA Compliance (California Residents). If you are a California resident, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including: (i) the right to know what personal information we collect; (ii) the right to request access or deletion; and (iii) the right to opt out of any sale of personal data (note: we do not sell personal data). To exercise these rights, contact us at legal@defenseunicorns.com. 1.7 Modifications. Defense Unicorns may change the Offerings and associated content, interfaces, and features from time to time, without prior notice to Customer. Defense Unicorns may discontinue the provision of any Offerings (or portion thereof) in its sole discretion with twelve (12) months of written notice to Customer. 2. Services. Services are subject to the following terms and conditions in addition to those non-conflicting provisions set forth in any applicable Order Form: 2.1 Subscription Term Duration. Unless otherwise specified on the Order Form, each Subscription Term begins with the initiation of the applicable Services and shall initially continue for the period specified in the applicable Order Form, or if no such period is specified, then deemed to be concluded for an indefinite period. 2.2 Provision of Services. Defense Unicorns will render Services in accordance with this agreement and any applicable Order Form. Defense Unicorns has no obligation to provide any service other than SaaS Services, Professional Services, Support Services, and Training Services (collectively, “Services”) that are purchased by Customer pursuant to an Order Form. 2.3 SaaS Services. SaaS Services consist of making specified software available to Customer online as a service during the applicable Subscription Term, as set forth in any applicable Order Form. Each SaaS Service will include at least the functionality described for that service in the Order Form or in the product guide in effect at the time the particular SaaS Services are purchased. Defense Unicorns may update the product guide (and the functionality of the applicable SaaS Services) at its sole discretion.od. 2.4 Professional Services. The scope of Professional Services will be set forth in the applicable Order Form or statement of work (collectively, “SOW”) specifying the Professional Services to be provided, the deliverables to be provided, a schedule for delivery, and payment arrangements. 2.5 Support Services. Support Services consist of: (i) providing Customer’s named Administrators (as defined below) with consultation in English, via telephone, chat, and email, during Defense Unicorns’ normal business hours to assist with any Errors encountered by Customer in using the supported Offering; and (ii) making reasonable efforts to correct any Error in supported Offerings, all in accordance with Defense Unicorns’ support policies published on its website, as updated from time to time. Errors do not include, and Defense Unicorns has no obligation to correct, malfunctions caused in whole or in part by the operation of unsupported third-party products or the integration of any Offerings with or into unsupported third-party products, or the use of Offerings other than in accordance with the applicable documentation provided by Defense Unicorns. Defense Unicorns may in some cases provide updates to Customers who have purchased Support Services, on a when-and-if-available basis. No other Support Services are included under these Terms, including correction of Errors in or affecting any Offerings other than those for which Support Services have been purchased, as set forth on the Order Form. Upon request from Defense Unicorns, Customer will designate up to three (3) of its employees to assist with the administration of the Services on its behalf and serve as points of contact in communicating with Defense Unicorns (“Administrators”). 2.6 Training Services. Defense Unicorns will provide any purchased Training Services remotely or at the location set forth in the applicable Order Form. If no location is specified in the Order Form, the training will be provided at a mutually agreed upon location to be determined and confirmed in writing. Unless otherwise specified in the Order Form, for on-site, virtual and e-learning training, Customer is responsible for testing all necessary facilities and systems prior to the scheduled training to enable Defense Unicorns to provide the training. Training dates must be confirmed two or more weeks in advance of the training date. Defense Unicorns may re-schedule training at any time prior to the training start date without liability. If Defense Unicorns is aware that there is a need to reschedule, then Defense Unicorns will make a reasonable effort to notify the Customer at least one week in advance. In-person training must be initiated within nine months of the Order Form date and completed within one year of the Order Form date, provided however that if in-person training is not completed within one year due to rescheduling by Defense Unicorns, the time for completion will be extended for a time period commensurate with the Defense Unicorns-initiated delay. On-site, virtual and e-learning training is only valid for the number of courses, dates and times (including the start and end date), locations, delivery mechanisms (i.e., onsite, virtual or other), and number of students (participants) specified in the Order Form. Training content will be substantially in line with the relevant training description set forth in the Order Form. Ownership of all copyright and other intellectual property rights in any training course material or other documentation, technical information, and know-how (together “Defense Unicorns Proprietary Information”) provided to training participants or otherwise to Customer remains the sole property of Defense Unicorns. 2.7 Website Terms of Use. Customer’s use of Defense Unicorns website services shall be subject the Defense Unicorns’ [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/site-terms-of-service/] Website Terms of Service, which shall be in addition to these Terms of Use. 3. Intellectual Property. 3.1 Intellectual Property of Customer. If Customer purchases Professional Services, Customer hereby grants to Defense Unicorns a non-exclusive, royalty-free right and license during the term of this agreement to use Customer-provided intellectual property, information, software, content, or other materials (“Customer Property”) for the sole purpose of performing the Professional Services. Nothing in this agreement conveys to Defense Unicorns any title or interest in or to Customer Property. In performing Professional Services for Customer, Defense Unicorns may use graphics, data, application program interfaces, database structures, diagrams, images, tables, sounds, video, computer programs, scripts, methodologies, documentation, computer code, or algorithms created, licensed, or otherwise acquired by Defense Unicorns before the Effective Date or independently of providing Professional Services to Customer (collectively, “Defense Unicorns Tools”). Unless otherwise specified in the applicable Order Form, Defense Unicorns and its licensors retain all intellectual property and other rights to Defense Unicorns Tools and any inventions, works of authorship, trade secrets, know-how or subject matter that Defense Unicorns makes or creates while providing Professional Services. 3.2 Software License. Customer agrees that all worldwide patent, copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Offerings, and all copies of the software however made (including copies pre-installed on the hardware purchased by Customer) are the exclusive property of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. All Software is licensed to Customer subject to the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/end-user-license-agreement/] End User License Agreement, not sold. Customer will not circumvent any technological measure that controls access to Software or Services. Defense Unicorns reserves all rights not expressly granted in this agreement, and no rights or licenses shall be deemed or interpreted to be granted or transferred hereunder, whether by implication, estoppel, or otherwise. 3.3 Use of the Services. Defense Unicorns delivers “software as a service” and other services on a subscription basis (“SaaS Services”). Defense Unicorns grants Customer a nonexclusive, nontransferable, worldwide right to access and use the SaaS Service(s) during the Term, solely for Customer’s internal business operations. Defense Unicorns reserves all other rights. Customer shall not use any services that are not set forth in an Order Form signed by Customer and accepted by Defense Unicorns, except as otherwise provided in the Agreement. If Customer has a sandbox Account, Customer shall use it solely for testing non-production data and for internal business purposes only. 3.4 Reservation of Rights. Customer acknowledges and agrees that: (a) the Offerings, and Defense Unicorns Tools contain Defense Unicorns’ valuable intellectual property and are subject to and protected by patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights, throughout the world, of Defense Unicorns and its licensors; (b) such intellectual property rights shall continue to be exclusively owned by Defense Unicorns and its licensors; and (c) nothing in this agreement shall effect a transfer of such intellectual property rights to Customer. 3.5 Third-Party Trademarks and Open-Source Attribution. The Services may be used to store and distribute container images that incorporate or are based on third-party software, including open-source projects and their associated trademarks (e.g., names, logos, and branding). Customer acknowledges and agree that: (a) all third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners; (b) the inclusion of any third-party name, trademark, or software reference in container images does not imply any endorsement or affiliation with Defense Unicorns, unless explicitly stated; (c) Customer is solely responsible for ensuring that Customer’s use of any third-party trademarks or branding in Customer’s container images complies with the applicable trademark usage guidelines, license terms, and attribution requirements of those third-party projects; (d) Defense Unicorns does not grant any rights or licenses to use such third-party trademarks and disclaims all responsibility for misuse or unauthorized use of them by users of the Service. If Customer distributes containers that bundle open source or other third-party software, Customer must comply with the applicable open-source licenses and trademark policies associated with those projects. 3.6 Feedback. Customer may provide Defense Unicorns with any suggestions, comments, or other feedback regarding the Offerings (“Feedback”). Customer’s decision to provide Feedback is entirely voluntary. By providing Feedback, Customer assigns to Defense Unicorns all right, title, and interest (including any intellectual property rights) that Customer may have in such Feedback and acknowledges that Defense Unicorns may use (or not use) any such Feedback in any manner and for any purpose, without compensation to Customer and without implying or creating any interest on Customer’s part in any of Defense Unicorns’ Offerings. 4. Marketing and Communications. By creating an account, you agree that we may contact you with service-related notices and promotional communications about Defense Unicorns products and services. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link provided. However, we may still send you non-promotional communications regarding your account or use of the Service. 5. Terms for Early Access, Product Trials and Beta Services or Features. 5.1 Early Access Product. Defense Unicorns may in its sole discretion provide Customer certain Offerings that are not yet generally available including but not limited to Early Access Program products, Test Units, Evaluation Units, Product Trials, and Beta Services or Features (“Early Access Product”) for use and/or evaluation during a limited time period (“Trial Period”). The Trial Period shall be thirty (30) days unless otherwise stated in writing by Defense Unicorns. Defense Unicorns may terminate a Trial Period for any reason and without advanced notice. Use of an Early Access Product under a Trial Period will be subject to the Defense Unicorns’ Terms. Customer may be required to accept additional terms prior to receipt of the Early Access Product. If Customer does not wish to accept these additional terms, Customer must not initiate the Trial Period. Notwithstanding any contrary provision in the Terms or applicable Order Form, Customer acknowledges and agrees that Early Access Product may not be fully functional or reliable. 5.2 Data. Notwithstanding any terms to the contrary in any agreement, Customer agrees that Defense Unicorns may make use of Customer Data related to Early Access Product in accord with section 1.5 of Defense Unicorns’ Terms of Use. 6. Other Limitations and Restrictions. Customer shall not do (and shall not permit others to do) any of the following: (a) license, sublicense, sell, resell, rent, lease, transfer, or distribute Offerings to others, redistribute the Offerings to third parties as a service bureau, or allow third parties (other than Customer’s employees and individual contractors) to access the Offerings; (b) disassemble, reverse engineer, or decompile Software or the systems used by Defense Unicorns to render SaaS Services, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code of such Software or systems, except solely to the extent such activity is permitted under applicable law or this agreement; (c) modify SaaS Services; (d) remove or modify a copyright, trademark, logo or other proprietary rights notice or brand labeling on or in Offerings; (e) use Offerings to reproduce, distribute, display, transmit, or use material protected by copyright or other intellectual property right (including the rights of publicity or privacy) without first obtaining the permission of the owner; (f) use Offerings to create, use, send, store or run viruses or other harmful computer code, files, scripts, agents or other programs or otherwise engage, in a malicious or criminal act or disrupt the security, integrity or operation of any computer system; (g) use Offerings other than as expressly permitted in these Terms of Use and the Order Form, including without limitation using the Offerings in excess of the limitations or restrictions specified in the applicable Order Form; (h) use Offerings to develop a competing product or service; (i) disable, jailbreak, or otherwise circumvent any technological measures in Offerings that limit access or use of Services; or (j) unlock, activate, access, or use any feature of Offerings for which Customer has not purchased a Subscription authorizing Customer to do so. Any breach of the foregoing obligations shall be deemed a material breach of the agreement. If Customer is a non-governmental entity, Customer will indemnify and hold harmless Defense Unicorns against any damages, losses, liabilities, settlements, and expenses (including without limitation costs and attorneys’ fees) in connection with any claim or action that arises from an alleged breach of this Section. 7. Third-Party Technology and Services. Each of the Offerings may be compatible with third-party plugins, services, and other technology, including any service that uses Customer’s API token(s) to access Customer’s Defense Unicorns account (“Third-Party Technology”). Defense Unicorns may also make available, for purposes of convenience, links to third-party websites or applications that enable the download or use of Third-Party Technology. Defense Unicorns does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for the operation or functionality of the Offerings with, such Third-Party Technology. Customer is solely responsible for such use of any Third-Party Technology, including compliance with the terms and conditions governing the use of such Third-Party Technology. Customer enables, uses, or accesses them at Customer’s own risk. ANY THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY DOWNLOADED BY CUSTOMER OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED OR USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFERINGS IS DONE SO AT CUSTOMER’S DISCRETION AND RISK, AND CUSTOMER AND CUSTOMER’S AUTHORIZED USERS WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR AND HEREBY WAIVE ALL CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION AGAINST DEFENSE UNICORNS WITH RESPECT TO SUCH USE, INCLUDING ANY DAMAGE TO COMPUTER SYSTEMS OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OR USE OF ANY SUCH THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY. 8. Disclaimer of Warranty. THE OFFERINGS PROVIDED HEREUNDER ARE “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. DEFENSE UNICORNS HEREBY EXCLUDES AND DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUALITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, RESULTS, EFFORTS, OR QUIET ENJOYMENT. THERE IS NO WARRANTY THAT OFFERINGS ARE ERROR-FREE OR WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ACHIEVE ANY PARTICULAR RESULT. CUSTOMER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE PERFORMANCE OR USE OF OFFERINGS AND ANY THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING RELIANCE ON ANY INFORMATION GENERATED THROUGH USE OF OFFERINGS. TO THE EXTENT THAT DEFENSE UNICORNS MAY NOT DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY AS A MATTER OF LAW, THE SCOPE AND DURATION OF SUCH WARRANTY SHALL BE THE MINIMUM PERMITTED UNDER SUCH LAW. 9. Term and Termination. 9.1 Term. This agreement is effective upon Customer’s first purchase of Offerings and shall continue until terminated pursuant to this Section, Term and Termination. 9.2 Termination for Cause. If Customer breaches this agreement (including by failing to pay amounts owed when due) Defense Unicorns may, in addition to its other rights and remedies hereunder or at law: (i) terminate this agreement for cause in its entirety, or (ii) terminate for cause one or more Order Forms, subscriptions, Capacities, or SOWs related to the breach only. Customer may terminate this agreement in its entirety for cause upon thirty (30) days written notice to Defense Unicorns of a material breach of this agreement if such breach remains uncured at the expiration of such period. 9.3 Termination for Convenience. Either party may terminate this agreement for convenience upon thirty (30) days’ notice if at the time of such notice there are no Order Forms, Subscriptions, Advanced Software Packages, or SOWs in effect. 9.4 Suspension. Defense Unicorns may suspend or limit Customer’s Account and use of Offerings as it deems reasonably necessary to prevent, investigate, or otherwise address any suspected breach of this agreement including these Terms of Use. 9.5 Effect of Termination. a) Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement for any reason: (i) all Order Forms, subscriptions, and SOWs shall immediately terminate; (ii) Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services; (iii) if Defense Unicorns terminates this agreement for cause, then all licenses granted to Customer shall immediately terminate and Customer shall immediately stop using (and Defense Unicorns may deactivate) the applicable Software; (iv) Customer shall not under any circumstances be entitled to a refund of any fees paid, except as otherwise expressly provided herein; and (v) any section of this agreement which by its nature should survive termination shall so survive. b) Defense Unicorns will not delete Customer Data for thirty (30) days following termination of the subscription to SaaS Services. There will be no functionality of SaaS Services during these thirty (30) days other than the ability to retrieve Customer Data. Customer will not incur additional fees if Customer downloads Customer Data from SaaS Services during this time. Defense Unicorns has no obligation to maintain or provide Customer Data after thirty (30) days and may thereafter, unless legally prohibited, delete all Customer Data. Upon request, Defense Unicorns will provide written certification to Customer that Defense Unicorns has deleted all Customer Data from Defense Unicorns’ systems. c) Upon expiration or termination of an SOW for any reason, Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services under the SOW (including any delivery due after termination, whether or not such delivery is in process at the time of expiration or termination) and Customer shall promptly pay Defense Unicorns a portion of the Fees that would have been due upon future attainment of delivery or other milestones (“Goals“) computed on a prorated basis equal to the number of days that Defense Unicorns worked towards the attainment of such Goals prior to termination relative to the number of days specified in the SOW for attainment of such Goals. 10 Indemnity and Limitation of Liability. 10.1 Defense Unicorns will defend and indemnify the Customer against any third-party claim alleging that the Offerings infringe or misappropriate third party’s intellectual property rights. The obligation applies only if the Customer: (a) gives Defense Unicorns prompt written notice of the claim; (b) permits Defense Unicorns to control the defense and settlement of the claim; and (c) reasonably cooperates with Defense Unicorns in the defense and settlement of the claim. In no event may the Customer agree to any settlement of any claim without the written consent of Defense Unicorns. The obligation under this section will not apply to the extent the underlying allegation arises from (in whole or in part): (a) the Customer’s breach of this Agreement or violation of applicable law; (b) modifications to Defense Unicorns’ Offerings by anyone other than Defense Unicorns; (c) operation or use of the Offerings in combination with any third party hardware or software not authorized by Defense Unicorns; (d) use of the Offering for any reason other than the intended purpose; (e) liability caused by Customer’s services, products, materials or data; or (f) any negligent acts or omissions of the Customer or a third party. 10.2 Limitation of Liability. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DEFENSE UNICORNS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE SERVICE. 11 Confidentiality. 11.1 Confidential Information. A party receiving Confidential Information (“Receiving Party”) from the other party (“Disclosing Party”) will: (a) protect the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information using the same degree of care, and in no event less that reasonable care, that it uses to protect its own Confidential Information, (b) use the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information only for purposes consistent with this agreement, and (c) limit access to Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information to its employees, contractors, or agents who are involved in performing this agreement, have a “need to know,” and have signed a non-disclosure agreement with terms no less restrictive than those herein. Customer shall treat the terms of this agreement as Confidential Information of Defense Unicorns. 11.2 Compelled Disclosure. If the Receiving Party is compelled to disclose by law, order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, regulatory agency, or other governmental body (each, an “Order”) any Confidential Information, the Receiving Party will, if legally permissible, promptly give the Disclosing Party written notice of the Order and reasonable assistance to the Disclosing Party prior to disclosure to provide the Disclosing Party with the opportunity to interpose any and all objections it may have to disclosure of the information required by the Order and seek a protective order or other appropriate relief. 11.3 State Customers. Defense Unicorns acknowledges and agrees that State Customers are subject to applicable state or local public information acts, and that governmental expenditures are generally considered public information and are subject to disclosure to the public.er appropriate relief. 12 Miscellaneous. 12.1 Amendment of the Terms of Use. Defense Unicorns may amend these Terms of Use effective upon publication to its website or by giving notice to Customer. 12.2 Electronic Communications. By using the Offerings, Customer explicitly consents (to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law) to receive all notices and information relating to use and operation of the Offerings via emails, push notifications, and other similar means, and Customer agrees that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that Defense Unicorns provides to Customer electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. 12.3 Choice of Law and Venue. a) If Customer is a non-governmental entity, this agreement will be interpreted under California state law without giving effect to any choice of law principles that would require the application of the laws of a different country or state, and any claim by a party may be brought in any state or federal court of competent jurisdiction located in San Francisco, California. b) If Customer is a federal governmental entity (“Federal Customer”), United States federal law will apply and any claim may be brought in any federal court. c) The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply to this agreement. 12.4 Construction. In constructing the terms of this agreement, no presumption shall operate in favor of or against any party because of its counsel’s role in drafting the terms and provisions hereof. If the terms of this agreement conflict with a Defense Unicorns Order Form, then the terms of this agreement shall control unless the Defense Unicorns Order Form is signed by both parties and expressly identifies the modified provision of the agreement. This agreement is in the English language and its English language version shall be controlling over any other translation, except as otherwise required by applicable law. The parties to this agreement have expressly required that the present agreement be drawn up in the English language. As between Defense Unicorns and the Customer, Defense Unicorns terms shall control over any terms agreed between the Customer and any reseller. 12.5 Force Majeure. No party shall be liable or responsible to the other party, nor be deemed to have defaulted under or breached this agreement, for any reasonable delay in fulfilling or performing any obligation under this agreement (other than the obligation to pay money), when and to the extent such delay is directly caused by acts of God, epidemics or pandemics, quarantines, export bans, sanctions and other government actions, war, terrorism, riot, civil commotion, interference by civil or military authorities, national or international calamity, armed conflict, nuclear, chemical or biological contamination, explosions, collapse of building structures, fires, floods, storms, earthquakes, natural disasters, extreme adverse weather, stability or availability of the internet; the elements; telecommunication system failure; technology attacks, embargoes; strikes; lockouts; disputes with workmen or other labor disturbances; total or partial failure of transportation, utilities, delivery facilities, or supplies; or acts or requests of any governmental authority. 12.6 Notice. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, all notices shall be in writing and deemed delivered the earlier of: (a) actual receipt; (b) upon delivery by a nationally recognized overnight courier (receipt requested) to the receiving party’s address as specified herein or updated by written notice; or (c) when received via electronic communications as evidenced by either party’s contemporaneously created computer records. The parties’ addresses for notice are set forth above. Either party may change its address of record by giving the other ten (10) days’ notice. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Defense Unicorns may give notice of prospective changes to its schedule of fees by reasonably conspicuous display on the user interface for SaaS Services or Customer’s Account. 12.7 Relationship Between the Parties. The parties are independent contractors. Neither party is the agent, partner, employee, fiduciary, or joint venturer of the other party under this agreement. There are no third-party beneficiaries under this agreement. 12.8 Remedies. Except as otherwise provided herein, the parties’ rights and remedies under this agreement are cumulative and non-exclusive. No single right or remedy shall be exclusive of any other which is consistent with the former. Customer acknowledges that the Offerings contain valuable trade secrets and proprietary information of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers, that any actual or threatened breach of this agreement by Customer would constitute immediate, irreparable harm for which monetary damages would be an inadequate remedy, and that injunctive relief is an appropriate remedy for such breach. 12.9 Waivers. All waivers must be in writing. Any waiver or failure to enforce any provision of this agreement on one occasion shall not be deemed a waiver of any other provision or of such provision on any other occasion. 12.10 Severability. If any provision of this agreement is held unenforceable by a court, such provision may be changed and interpreted by the court to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. 12.11 Assignment. Defense Unicorns may assign this agreement, without restriction, upon notice to Customer. Except as otherwise provided herein, Customer may not assign any of its rights or obligations hereunder, whether by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior express written consent of Defense Unicorns; provided, however, Customer may assign this agreement in its entirety, together with all rights and obligations hereunder, to any party that is not an Embargoed Party in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets related to this agreement, and Customer shall provide Defense Unicorns with prior written notice of such assignment. 12.12 Entire Agreement. The parties may during the course of performance repetitively indicate their assent to this form of agreement, such as by clicking an “Accept” icon on Defense Unicorns’ website; the parties agree that once they have entered into this agreement, such subsequent manifestations of assent shall be treated as an affirmation or amendment of the contract that they have formed under these terms, and not as a series of separate contracts. In no event shall any clauses, terms, or conditions of a governmental entity customer flow-down to Defense Unicorns, or into this agreement, or otherwise be deemed to be included or apply to this agreement, without Defense Unicorns’ prior and express written consent. 12.13 Contact Us. If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at: Defense Unicorns, Inc. 555 E Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 114 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 legal@defenseunicorns.com [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] www.defenseunicorns.com --- ### End User License Agreement Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/end-user-license-agreement/ #### DEFENSE UNICORNS, INC. SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT This Defense Unicorns Software End User License Agreement (“EULA”) sets forth your license rights and obligations with respect to Software provided by Defense Unicorns Inc. (“Defense Unicorns” or “we” or “us”). The following terms form a legally binding contract between Defense Unicorns and the individual or entity who procured the Software license (“Customer” or “End User” or “you” or “your”). You must accept this EULA as a condition for downloading, installing, or using Software. If you do not accept this EULA, do not download, install, or use Software. Your entitlement to licenses under this EULA may be evidenced in an Order Form, a confirmation, an invoice, or other proof of entitlement issued to you by Defense Unicorns or its authorized Reseller, including during an online purchase process (each of the foregoing, a “Proof of Entitlement” and together with any related agreement that is signed by both you and Defense Unicorns, the “Purchase Agreement”). Any capitalized terms shall have the meaning prescribed to them under this EULA, as applicable. If you purchased a license to Software from a Defense Unicorns authorized third-party reseller of Software (“Reseller”), this EULA governs your use of the Software and any terms in your agreement with the Reseller that are inconsistent or contravene the terms of this EULA shall not apply. You acknowledge and agree that the Reseller may only grant rights and must pass through conditions consistent with this EULA and that any license rights given to you pursuant to the Customer’s separate agreement with the Reseller that is greater than the license rights in this EULA shall not apply. - License. In accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement, including the timely payment of all Fees by You, Defense Unicorns hereby grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable, and non-assignable license to the Customer for the duration of the License Term and in a quantity equal to the number of purchased Software to (a) access and use the features and functionality of the licensed Software, as specified in the applicable Purchase Agreement, and (b) permit Authorized Users access to the licensed Software, provided they comply with the terms of use set forth in this Agreement.__ Additionally, the Customer is granted the right to use any provided documentation, as part of the licensed Software, solely for the purpose of accessing and using the licensed Software. Customer and Authorized Users shall reproduce in full any existing notices with respect to Defense Unicorns’ copyright ownership and reservation of rights on all tangible media containing copies of the Software and documentation. - Additional Terms. Unless otherwise specified in the applicable Proof of Entitlement, each Software License is granted on a per Unique Environment basis and it may only be exercised with respect to the Unique Environment identified on the applicable Proof of Entitlement or, if the Proof of Entitlement does not specify such Unique Environment, then only with respect to one (1) Unique Environment (“Authorized Environment”). CUSTOMER ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT SOFTWARE IS LICENSED SEPARATELY AND THAT NO IMPLIED LICENSE TO SUCH SOFTWARE ARISES FROM CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE OF ANY DEFENSE UNICORNS’ HARDWARE. - When a Software License is provisioned on a specific Authorized Environment (by activating, accessing, or using the Software on that Authorized Environment), such Software License, or any rights thereof, cannot be transferred to a different environment unless Defense Unicorns authorizes such transfer by written approval. - Restrictions. As a condition of your license or access, you agree not to: (a) modify, alter, tamper with, or otherwise create derivative works of the Software; (b) except to the extent such restriction is prohibited by applicable law, reverse engineer, disassemble, or decompile the Software or apply any other process or procedure to derive the source code included in the Software; (c) work around any technical limitations in the Software; (d) engage in any activity that materially interferes with or disrupts the Software; (e) resell or sublicense the Software to third parties; or (f) access or use the Software for any unlawful purpose. You will comply with all applicable law in connection with your access to or use of the Software. Customer agrees that all worldwide patent, copyright, and other Intellectual Property Rights in the Software and documentation, and all copies of the Software however made are the exclusive property of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. - Evaluation Licenses. Unless you have purchased Programs, Subscriptions from Defense Unicorns or an authorized reseller under the terms of a commercial agreement with Defense Unicorns, all use of the Programs shall be limited to testing purposes and not for production use (“Evaluation”). Unless otherwise agreed by Defense Unicorns, Evaluation of the Programs shall be limited to an evaluation environment and the Programs shall not be used to manage any systems or virtual machines on networks being used in the operation of your business or any other non-evaluation purpose. Unless otherwise agreed by Defense Unicorns, you shall limit all Evaluation use to a single 30 day evaluation period and shall not download or otherwise obtain additional copies of the Programs or license keys for Evaluation. - Open-Source Software. Notwithstanding the foregoing, or any statement to the contrary herein, portions of the Software may be provided with notices and open source or similar licenses from such communities and third parties that govern the use of those portions, and You hereby agree to be bound by and fully comply with all such licenses, and any access granted hereunder shall not alter any duties or obligations You may have under such open source licenses; however, the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provisions in this Agreement will apply to all such software in this Software distribution. - Ownership. You agree that all worldwide patent, copyright, and other Intellectual Property Rights in the Software and documentation, and all copies of the Software however made are the exclusive property of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. All Software is licensed to Customer, not sold. All rights not expressly granted to Customer in this Agreement are reserved by Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. There are no implied licenses under this Agreement. - Confidentiality. A party receiving Confidential Information (“Receiving Party”) from the other party (“Disclosing Party”) will: (a) protect the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information using the same degree of care, and in no event less that reasonable care, that it uses to protect its own Confidential Information, (b) use the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information for only for purposes consistent with this Agreement, and (c) limit access to Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information to its employees, contractors, or agents who are involved in performing this Agreement, have a “need to know,” and have signed a non-disclosure agreement with terms no less restrictive than those herein. Customer shall treat the terms of this Agreement as Confidential Information of Defense Unicorns. Compelled Disclosure. If the Receiving Party is compelled to disclose by law, order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, regulatory agency, or other governmental body (each, an “Order”) any Confidential Information, the Receiving Party will, if legally permissible, promptly give the Disclosing Party written notice of the Order and reasonable assistance to the Disclosing Party prior to disclosure to provide the Disclosing Party with the opportunity to interpose any and all objections it may have to disclosure of the information required by the Order and seek a protective order or other appropriate relief. - Equitable Relief. Each Party recognizes that the Confidential Information is unique and that no adequate remedy at law exists for the breach of any provision of this Section. Any such breach would cause irreparable harm to the Disclosing Party, allowing the Receiving Party or third parties to unfairly compete. Therefore, in case of such breach or threat thereof, the Disclosing Party has the right to seek injunctive and other equitable relief, without the need to prove damages, in addition to any legal remedies available. - Support. This Agreement does not entitle You to any support, maintenance, training, upgrades, patches, enhancements, or fixes (collectively, “Support”) for the Software. Support for the Software, as made available by Defense Unicorns, shall be purchased separately and become part of the Software as applicable. - Updates. The terms and conditions of this EULA shall apply to all Updates. Updates are solely provided on a “when-and-if-available” basis and as made generally available by Defense Unicorns to its customers. An Update is deemed part of the underlying Software that it modifies or to which otherwise pertains. The provision of an Update does not grant to Customer any license right apart from the license that customer has previously acquired for the underlying Software to which the Update pertains, and Customer may not install or use any Update unless that license is in effect and then only in accordance with that license. Customer shall promptly install any Updates that Defense Unicorns designates as required for the continued safe operation of Software. - Defense Unicorns Warranty Disclaimer. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT AND THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY LAW, THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, AND DEFENSE UNICORNS AND ITS SUPPLIERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ORAL OR WRITTEN, RELATING TO THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION, AND THE THIRD-PARTY SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING LIMITATION, DEFENSE UNICORNS DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGES THAT DEFENSE UNICORNS DOES NOT CONTROL THE TRANSFER OF DATA, INFORMATION, OR CONTENT OVER COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES, INCLUDING THE INTERNET OR A THIRD-PARTY SERVICE, AND THAT THE SOFTWARE MAY BE SUBJECT TO LIMITATIONS, DELAYS, AND OTHER PROBLEMS INHERENT IN THE USE OF SUCH COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES. DEFENSE UNICORNS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DELAYS, DELIVERY FAILURES, OR OTHER DAMAGE RESULTING FROM SUCH PROBLEMS. THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY CONSTITUTES AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS AGREEMENT. ALL THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMERS ALSO APPLY IN FULL WITH RESPECT TO DEFENSE UNICORNS’ LICENSORS, SUPPLIERS, DISTRIBUTORS, CONTRACTORS AND AGENTS. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. - LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER DEFENSE UNICORNS NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES OR DISTRIBUTORS WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF USE, LOST DATA, FAILURE OF SECURITY MECHANISMS, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, UNAVAILABILITY OR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS OR COSTS OF COVER), REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF DEFENSE UNICORNS OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES OR DISTRIBUTORS WAS INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE. DEFENSE UNICORNS’ AND ITS AFFILIATES’ AND DISTRIBUTORS’ ENTIRE LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS PAID BY CUSTOMER TO DEFENSE UNICORNS UNDER THIS EULA DURING THE SINGLE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD THAT COMMENCES UPON THE DATE OF THE FIRST EVENT THAT GIVES RISE TO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES CLAIMED BY EITHER PARTY OR ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMING THROUGH THAT PARTY, OR (B) USD $100.00. THE PARTIES AGREE THAT THE LIMITATIONS SPECIFIED IN THIS SECTION WILL SURVIVE AND APPLY EVEN IF ANY LIMITED REMEDY SPECIFIED IN THIS AGREEMENT IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. - Termination. This Agreement shall commence on the date You accept the terms of this Agreement and shall continue until terminated as set forth in this Section 12 or as expressly set forth in this Agreement (the “Term”). You may terminate this Agreement at any time. Your rights under this Agreement will terminate automatically without notice from Defense Unicorns if You fail to comply with any term(s) of this Agreement. Upon termination, the Agreement and any rights granted to You hereunder shall immediately terminate and You shall immediately discontinue all use of the Software and documentation and promptly return to Defense Unicorns or destroy any Software or documentation, including all portions thereof, and all other Confidential Information. If requested, You must certify to Defense Unicorns in writing that You havehas complied with these requirements. Termination or expiration of this Agreement shall not limit or affect Defense Unicorns’ rights or Your obligations that accrued prior to the effective date of termination or expiration (including without limitation, payment obligations). Any section of this EULA which by its nature should survive the termination of this EULA in order to fulfill the purposes of the broader Agreement shall survive. Termination is not an exclusive remedy and all other remedies will remain available. - Government Users. Except as set forth in Exhibit A, the Software and documentation are “Commercial Products”, as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Commercial Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation”, as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end-users (a) only as Commercial Products and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end-users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. - Dispute Resolution. If You are an agency, instrumentality or department of the federal government of the United States, then this Agreement shall be governed in accordance with the provisions set forth in Exhibit A laws of the United States of America, and in the absence of applicable federal law, the laws of the State of Colorado will apply. Further, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, all claims, demands, complaints and disputes will be subject to the Contract Disputes Act (41 U.S.C. §§601-613), the Tucker Act (28 U.S.C. § 1346(a) and § 1491), or the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2401-2402, 2671-2672, 2674-2680), as applicable, or other applicable governing authority. For the avoidance of doubt, if You are an agency, instrumentality, or department of the federal, state or local government of the U.S. or a U.S. public and accredited educational institution, then Your indemnification obligations are only applicable to the extent they would not cause You to violate any applicable law (e.g., the Anti-Deficiency Act), and You have any legally required authorization or authorizing statute. For all other Customers, any dispute, controversy, or claim arising from or relating to this Agreement, including arbitrability, that cannot be resolved following good faith discussions within sixty (60) days after notice of a dispute has been given shall be finally settled by arbitration. This Agreement shall be deemed to have been made in and shall be construed pursuant to the laws of the State of Colorado and the United States, without regard to conflicts of law provisions thereof, and without regard to the United Nations Convention on contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For all purposes of this Agreement, but subject to the agreement to arbitrate set forth above, the Parties consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in the United States Federal Courts located in Denver, Colorado. - Miscellaneous. Neither this Agreement nor the access granted hereunder may be assigned, transferred, or subcontracted by You; any attempt to do so shall be void. Defense Unicorns may assign this Agreement in whole or in part. If any provision of this Agreement shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and be enforceable. Unless otherwise specified by Defense Unicorns, the Software is subject to export control under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and economic sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Therefore, you may not export, reexport or transfer in-country the Software without first obtaining any license or other approval that may be required by BIS and/or OFAC. You are responsible for any violation of the U.S. or other applicable export control or economic sanctions laws, regulations and requirements related to the Software. - Definitions. “Authorized Users” means (a) any individual or entity that directly or indirectly accesses or uses the Software through access authorized by Customer; or (b) employees and contractors working on behalf of and authorized by Customer. “Confidential Information” means all nonpublic information disclosed by a party to the other party, whether orally or in writing, that is designated as “confidential” or that, given the nature of the information or circumstance surrounding its disclosure, should reasonably be understood to be confidential. Defense Unicorns’ Confidential Information includes nonpublic information relating to Defense Unicorns’ or its partners’ products or services, technology, customers, business plans, promotional or marketing activities, and financial information, third-party information that Defense Unicorns is obligated to keep confidential, and the nature and content of any discussions or negotiations between the parties. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information does not include any information that: (a) is or becomes generally known to the public without breach of any confidentiality obligation, (b) was known to the receiving party prior to its disclosure by the disclosing party without breach of any confidentiality obligation, (c) is received from a third party free from, and without breach of, any confidentiality obligation or (d) was independently developed by the receiving party without reference to disclosing party’s Confidential Information. “Customer” includes any entity that is owned, operated, or controlled by Customer (each, a “Customer Affiliate”). “Fees” means the fees paid by the Customer for Software specified in an Order Form. “Intellectual Property” means embodiments of any Intellectual Property Rights, whether in electronic, written or other media, including (a) works of authorship, (b) inventions, discoveries and improvements, (c) technical data, (d) user interfaces, test reports, bills of material, building instructions, lab notebooks, samples, tools, materials, and apparatuses, and (e) recordings, graphs, drawings, reports, analyses and other writings. “Intellectual Property Rights” means all worldwide intellectual property rights, including rights in and to (a) patents and other governmental grants for the protection of inventions or industrial designs, (b) copyrights and moral rights, (c) trade secrets and know-how, (d) trademarks, trade names and service marks, (e) domain names, web addresses and other universal resource locator (URL) registrations, (f) rights of publicity, and (g) database rights. “License Term” means, with respect to a Software package, the Term of that Software package, including (if applicable) the initial term and any renewal terms. “Order Form” means a written ordering document, physically or electronically signed by both Customer and Defense Unicorns, which specifies Software packages and other entitlements purchased by Customer. “Software” means the software specified in an Order Form relating to this Agreement. “Unique Environment” means an isolated, self-contained computing environment tailored to meet specific use cases, user requirements, security standards, and/or system constraints. Defense Unicorns’ characterization of the Customer’s various computing environments and their respective uniqueness for the purposes of determining the Unique Environment(s) shall be dispositive. Exhibit A ADDENDUM TO END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (for U.S. Government End Users) - Scope. This Addendum establishes the terms and conditions enabling Defense Unicorns to provide Software and Services to the U.S. Government agencies (the “Government Licensee”). - Applicability. The terms and conditions in this Exhibit A are hereby incorporated by reference to the extent that they are consistent with Federal Law (e.g., the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(B)), the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. § 601-613), the Prompt Payment Act, the Anti-Assignment statutes (31 U.S.C. § 3727 and 41 U.S.C. § 15), 28 U.S.C § 516 (Conduct of Litigation Reserved to Department of Justice), and 28 U.S.C. § 1498 (Patent and copyright cases)). To the extent the terms and conditions in Defense Unicorns’ EULA are inconsistent with Federal Law, they shall be deemed deleted and unenforceable under any resultant orders under Defense Unicorn’s prime contract, including but not limited to the clauses contained herein. - Modification. The terms of this EULA shall be in accordance with the terms set forth herein, unless a Government Licensee determines that it requires different terms of use and Defense Unicorns agrees in writing to such terms under the Government contract. - Contracting Parties. The Government User is the “Ordering Entity,” defined as a governmental entity authorized to order under the applicable federal prime contract. The Licensee cannot be an individual because any implication of individual licensing triggers the requirements for legal review by Federal Employee unions. Conversely, because of competition rules, the contractor must be defined as a single entity even if the contractor is part of a corporate group. The Government cannot contract with the group, or in the alternative with a set of contracting parties. - Changes to Work and Delays. Subject to FAR 52.212-4(f), Excusable Delays (DEC 2022) regarding which FAR provisions shall take precedence. - Contract Formation. Subject to FAR sections 1.601(a) and 43.102, the Government Order must be signed by a duly warranted contracting officer, in writing. The same requirement applies to contract modifications affecting the rights of the parties. All terms and conditions intended to bind the Government must be included within the contract signed by the Government. - Usage Report. In lieu of any audit rights, upon Defense Unicorns’s reasonable request during the term of this Agreement, Government Licensee will run a self-assessment with tools provided by and at the direction of Defense Unicorns (“Self-Assessment”) to verify Government Licensee’s compliance with this Agreement. - Termination. Termination shall be governed by FAR 52.212-4 and the Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 601-613, subject to the following exceptions: Defense Unicorns may request cancellation or termination of the Defense Unicorns’ EULA if such remedy is granted to it after conclusion of the Contract Disputes Act dispute resolutions process or if such remedy is otherwise ordered by a United States Federal Court. - Perpetual License. Upon expiration or termination of the paid license term, and subject to Government Licensee’s full payment of all applicable fees, Defense Unicorns hereby grants Government Licensee a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, perpetual license to use the last version of the Software delivered to Government Licensee prior to such expiration or termination (the “Final Version”) solely for Government Licensee’s internal business purposes. This perpetual license does not entitle Government Licensee to any future updates, upgrades, maintenance, or support services. The use of the Final Version shall remain subject to all other applicable terms and conditions of this EULA, including but not limited to the restrictions on use, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights. - Consent to Federal Jurisdiction. Any disputes relating to the EULA and this Addendum shall be resolved in accordance with the FAR and the Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7109. The Government Licensee expressly acknowledges that Defense Unicorns, on behalf of any subcontracts, shall have standing to bring such claim under the Contract Disputes Act. - Subject to the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7109) and Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)), the validity, interpretation and enforcement of this Addendum will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States. In the event the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) or any similar federal laws or regulations are enacted, to the extent allowed by law, it will not apply to this Agreement, and the governing law will remain as if such law or regulation had not been enacted. All clauses in the Defense Unicorns EULA referencing equitable remedies are deemed not applicable to the Government order and are therefore deemed to be deleted. - All clauses referencing waiver of Jury Trial are subject to FAR 52.233-1, Disputes (MAY 2014), and all clauses governing waiver of Jury Trial in the EULA are hereby deemed to be deleted. - Force Majeure. Subject to FAR 52.212-4(f), Excusable Delays (DEC 2022). Unilateral termination by the contractor does not apply to a Government order and all clauses in the Defense Unicorns EULA referencing unilateral termination rights of Defense Unicorns are hereby deemed to be deleted. - Assignment. All clauses regarding Assignment are subject to FAR 52.232-23, Assignment of Claims (MAY 2014) and FAR Subpart 42.12, Novation and Change-of-Name Agreements, and all clauses governing Assignment in the EULA are hereby deemed to be deleted. - Customer Indemnities. All clauses that (i) violate the U.S. Department of Justice’s right under 28 U.S.C. § 516 to represent the Government in any case, and/or (ii) require that the Government give sole control over the litigation and/or settlement, are hereby deemed to be deleted. - Renewals. All clauses that violate the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341, 41 U.S.C. § 11) ban on automatic renewal are hereby deemed to be deleted. - Future Fees or Penalties. All clauses that violate the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341, 41 U.S.C. § 11), which prohibits the Government from paying any fees or penalties beyond the Contract amount, unless specifically authorized by existing statutes, such as the Prompt Payment Act (31 U.S.C. § 3901) or the Equal Access to Justice Act (5 U.S.C. § 504), are hereby deemed to be deleted. - Taxes. Taxes are subject to FAR 52.212-4(k), which provides that the contract price includes all federal, state, and local taxes and duties. - Third-Party Terms. The Government Licensee acknowledges and agrees that any third-party software, including but not limited to applications, tools, or libraries, that may be incorporated or utilized in conjunction with the Software, shall not be subject to the terms and conditions of this EULA. Instead, such third-party software shall be governed by the respective third-party’s terms and conditions. Subject to review and approval of the Government Licensee prior to incorporation of such third-party software, the Government Licensee is responsible for complying with any such applicable third-party terms. Defense Unicorns makes no representations or warranties regarding any third-party software and shall have no liability or obligation with respect to such third-party software. - Limitation of Liability. Defense Unicorns and Government Licensee shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or data use. Further, Defense Unicorns and Government Licensee shall not be liable for punitive damages except to the extent this limitation is prohibited by applicable law. This clause shall not impair the U.S. Government’s right to recover for fraud or crimes arising out of or related to this Government Contract under any federal fraud statutes, including the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733. - Advertisements and Endorsements. Unless specifically authorized by a Government Licensee in writing, such use of the name or logo of any U.S. Government entity is prohibited. - Confidentiality. Defense Unicorns agrees that this EULA contains no confidential or proprietary information. Any provisions that require the Government Licensee to keep certain information confidential are subject to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, and any order by a United States Federal Court. --- ### Product Terms and Conditions Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/product-terms-and-conditions/ ###### Defense Unicorns License and Service Agreement Previous Versions: [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/product-terms-and-conditions-december-1-2025-to-february-28-2026/] December 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026 Effective Date: March 1, 2026 These terms and conditions (“Agreement“), together with any Order Form (as defined herein) referencing this Agreement are entered into by and between Defense Unicorns and the party identified in the Order Form (“Customer” or “You“) and contain the terms and conditions that govern the use and access by Customer to certain Defense Unicorns software and services, as described below. In consideration of the mutual promises and upon the terms and conditions herein, the parties agree as follows: - 1. Order, Fees, and Payment a. Orders. The parties and their Affiliates may enter into purchase transactions (“Orders”) by executing one or more Order Forms from time to time. When the parties enter into an Order Form, Customer agrees timely to pay to Defense Unicorns the applicable Fees, and Defense Unicorns agrees to provide the purchased Software and Services, in accordance with this Agreement and the applicable Order Form. Except as otherwise specified in this Agreement or in an Order Form: (i) Fees for Software packages or Subscriptions are based on the quantities purchased and not actual usage, (ii) orders and payment obligations are non-cancelable and Fees paid are non-refundable, and (iii) quantities purchased cannot be decreased during any applicable License Term or Subscription Term. - b. Fees. The Fees shall be as specified in the applicable Order Form or, if not so specified, then as otherwise quoted by Defense Unicorns or, in the absence of a quote, then at Defense Unicorns’ standard prices and fees in effect at the time the order is placed. i. If Customer provided a credit card number at the time of purchase, it will be charged upon fulfillment. - ii. For all other Orders, Defense Unicorns will invoice Customer for applicable Fees under each Order Form upon Defense Unicorns’ full or partial provisioning of Software or Services, or delivery of the deliverables, as applicable. - iii. Each Software or Service item identified by product code in an Order Form shall be deemed a separate sale and shall have its own delivery schedule, period of performance, and/or completion date. Defense Unicorns shall invoice Customer for applicable Software or Services Fees, subject to any discounts, upon provisioning. - iv. Unless otherwise expressly set forth in the Order Form, all invoices are due and payable within thirty (30) days of the date of invoice. Unless otherwise specified in an applicable Order Form, all Fees are payable and charged (i) at the beginning of each License Term and Subscription Term, and (ii) at the time of each renewal thereof. - c. Recurring Payments. Defense Unicorns may charge interest for all undisputed amounts not paid when due at the lower of 1.5% interest rate per month or the highest rate permitted by law. Defense Unicorns may suspend or terminate access to any Software or Services if any undisputed invoices are past due, which shall not relieve Customer from its obligation to pay all amounts owed. Each License Term and Subscription Term is a continuous and non-divisible commitment to purchase the applicable Software package or Services for the full duration of the then-current License Term or Subscription Term, as applicable, regardless of any payment schedule. Defense Unicorns will invoice Customer, and Customer will reimburse Defense Unicorns, monthly for actual and reasonable travel and living expenses incurred in connection with Defense Unicorns’ provision of any Professional Services. If Defense Unicorns sends a past due account to collections, Customer will be responsible for any resulting collection and attorneys’ fees. - d. Taxes. Any Fees are exclusive of taxes or duties of any kind. Customer will be responsible for, and will promptly pay, all taxes and duties of any kind (including but not limited to sales, use and withholding taxes) associated with this Agreement or Customer’s use of Software or Services, except for taxes based on Defense Unicorns’ net income. - 2. License. a. License. In accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement and the End User License Agreement (“EULA”) set forth at https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/eula, including the timely payment of all Fees by the Customer, Defense Unicorns hereby grants Customer a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferrable, and non-assignable license to the Customer for the duration of the License Term to (a) access and use the features and functionality of the licensed Software, as specified in the applicable Order Form, and (b) permit Authorized Users access to the licensed Software, provided they comply with the terms of use set forth in this Agreement and the EULA. Additionally, the Customer is granted the right to use any provided documentation, as part of the licensed Software, solely for the purpose of accessing and using the licensed Software. Customer and Authorized Users shall reproduce in full any existing notices with respect to Defense Unicorns’ copyright ownership and reservation of rights on all tangible media containing copies of the Software and documentation. To the extent there is any conflict between the terms of this Agreement and the EULA, the terms of the EULA shall govern with respect to the license grant and use of the Software. - b. Additional Terms. (a) Unless otherwise specified in the applicable Proof of Entitlement, each Software License is granted on a per Unique Environment basis and it may only be exercised with respect to the Unique Environment Configuration identified on the applicable Proof of Entitlement or, if the Proof of Entitlement does not specify such Unique Environment Configuration, then only with respect to one (1) Unique Environment Configuration (“Authorized Environment”); and (b) when a Software License is provisioned on a specific Authorized Environment (by activating, accessing, or using the Software on that Authorized Environment), such Software License, or any rights thereof, cannot be transferred to a different environment, unless Defense Unicorns authorizes such transfer by a written approval. - c. Restrictions. Customer shall not (and may not attempt) to: (a) modify, alter, tamper with, or otherwise create derivative works of the Software; (b) except to the extent such restriction is prohibited by applicable law, reverse engineer, disassemble, or decompile the Software or apply any other process or procedure to derive the source code included in the Software; (c) work around any technical limitations in the Software; (d) engage in any activity that materially interferes with or disrupts the Software; (e) resell or sublicense the Software to third parties; or (f) access or use the Software for any unlawful purpose. You will comply with all applicable law in connection with your access to or use of the Software. - d. Support. Unless stated otherwise in the Order Form, during the applicable License Term of the Software or the Subscription Term of the Service, Defense Unicorns shall provide technical support to Customer in accordance with Defense Unicorns’ Service Level Agreement (“SLA”), set forth in Exhibit A of this Agreement. - 3. Terms of Use. Customer and Authorized Users agree to use Defense Unicorns Software and Services only in a manner that complies with all laws. Customer shall ensure that it and its Authorized Users operate any Software or Service in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/terms-of-use/] Terms of Use (“Terms of use”). The Customer is responsible for procuring and managing all third-party software, hardware, and other necessary services and equipment at their own cost to implement and utilize the Software. The Customer must ensure that such equipment meet the requirements stated in the Order Form(s) or accompanying documentation. - 4. Intellectual Property. Customer agrees that all worldwide patent, copyright, and other Intellectual Property Rights in the Software and documentation, and all copies of the Software however made are the exclusive property of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. All Software is licensed to Customer, not sold. All rights not expressly granted to Customer in this Agreement are reserved by Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. There are no implied licenses under this Agreement. - 5. Service. During the Term, Customer may request Professional Services from Defense Unicorns for the implementation, configuration, and other related tasks for the Software. These Services may include deliverables and other assistance. The specific scope of the Services will be outlined in either the applicable Order Form or Statement of Work (“SOW”), both of which will be considered part of this Agreement. Each SOW will detail the Services to be performed, any accompanying materials or documentation to be provided by Defense Unicorns, and the expected delivery date(s) and associated Fees. The ownership of any Intellectual Property developed during the provision of Services by Defense Unicorns (alone or jointly with others) shall solely and exclusively belong to Defense Unicorns. Customer hereby assigns and agrees to assign to Defense Unicorns all rights, title, and interest in any such Intellectual Property developed during Services. - 6. Third-Party Software and Open-Source Software. Software may include third-party software, and open-source software (“OSS”), and such software is provided under separate license terms. To the best of Defense Unicorns’s information, knowledge and belief, the Software is free from third-party rights that would prevent Defense Unicorns from granting the license. Should third parties be entitled to and assert such rights, Defense Unicorns will, at its own expense, defend the Customer against the asserted third-party claims as set forth under Defense Unicorns’ indemnification obligations. - 7. Feedback. Customer may provide Defense Unicorns with any suggestions, comments, or other feedback regarding Software or Services (“Feedback”). Customer’s decision to provide Feedback is entirely voluntary. By providing Feedback, Customer assigns to Defense Unicorns all right, title, and interest (including any Intellectual Property Rights) that Customer may have in such Feedback and acknowledges that Defense Unicorns may use (or not use) any such Feedback in any manner and for any purpose, without compensation to Customer and without implying or creating any interest on Customer’s part in any of Defense Unicorns’ Software or Services that may be based on such Feedback. - 8. Publicity. Each party (“Grantor”) grants the other party (“Grantee”) a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, world-wide, fully paid-up, royalty free license to use, display, exhibit, distribute, broadcast, reproduce and copy the names and likeness of designated representatives, company name, company logo, trademark, or trade name provided by Grantor to Grantee solely for describing, promoting, publicizing, or marketing Customer’s use of the Software and Services under this Agreement. - 9. Warranty. During the term of this Agreement, Defense Unicorns warrants that the Software shall perform substantially in accordance with the then-current applicable documentation for a period of ninety (90) days. Additionally, Defense Unicorns guarantees that all Services provided to Customer will be done so in a professional and competent manner, adhering to standard industry practices. In the event of a breach of this warranty, Customer’s sole remedy shall be for Defense Unicorns to make commercially reasonable efforts to correct any non-conforming aspects of the Software at no additional cost to Customer. If, despite these efforts, Defense Unicorns is unable to rectify the issue, Defense Unicorns reserve the right to terminate this Agreement upon written notice to Customer. In such a case, any unused prepaid Fees paid by Customer for access to and use of the Software will be refunded following termination of the Agreement. This warranty is the exclusive remedy and sole liability of Defense Unicorns for any breach of the warranties set forth in this Agreement. - 10. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT AND THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY LAW, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED HEREUNDER ARE “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. DEFENSE UNICORNS HEREBY EXCLUDES AND DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUALITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, RESULTS, EFFORTS, OR QUIET ENJOYMENT. THERE IS NO WARRANTY THAT PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ARE ERROR-FREE OR WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ACHIEVE ANY PARTICULAR RESULT. CUSTOMER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE PERFORMANCE OR USE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES AND ANY THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING RELIANCE ON ANY INFORMATION GENERATED THROUGH USE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. TO THE EXTENT THAT DEFENSE UNICORNS MAY NOT DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY AS A MATTER OF LAW, THE SCOPE AND DURATION OF SUCH WARRANTY SHALL BE THE MINIMUM PERMITTED UNDER SUCH LAW. - 11. Term and Termination. a. Term. This Agreement is effective upon the Customer’s purchase of Software or Services and shall continue until terminated pursuant to this Section (Term and Termination). - b. Termination for Cause. If Customer breaches this Agreement (including by failing to pay amounts owed when due) Defense Unicorns may, in addition to its other rights and remedies hereunder or at law: (i) terminate this Agreement for cause in its entirety, or (ii) terminate for cause one or more Order Forms, Subscriptions, Software packages, or Statements of Work related to the breach only. Customer may terminate this Agreement in its entirety for cause upon thirty (30) days written notice to Defense Unicorns of a material breach of this Agreement if such breach remains uncured at the expiration of such period. - c. Suspension. Defense Unicorns may suspend or limit Customer’s use of Software or Services as it deems reasonably necessary to prevent, investigate, or otherwise address any suspected breach of this Agreement. - d. Effect of Termination. i. Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement for any reason: (i) all Order Forms, Subscriptions, Software packages subject to a License Term, and SOWs shall immediately terminate; (ii) Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services; (iii) if Defense Unicorns terminates this Agreement for cause, then the licenses granted under this Agreement shall immediately terminate and Customer shall immediately stop using the applicable Software; (iv) Customer shall not under any circumstances be entitled to a refund of any Fees paid, except as otherwise expressly provided herein; and (v) any section of this Agreement which by its nature should survive termination shall so survive. - ii. Upon expiration or termination of a Subscription for any reason, Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services under the Subscription and Customer will promptly pay Fees and other charges accruing under the Subscription prior to expiration or termination. Customer acknowledges that some features of Software may not operate upon termination of any SaaS-based Services. Additionally, if Defense Unicorns terminates a Subscription for cause, then Customer must pay to Defense Unicorns all unpaid Fees that were to have been paid for the remainder of the Subscription Term had it not been terminated, in addition to Defense Unicorns’ other rights and remedies. - iii. Upon expiration or termination of a Software License for any reason, (i) all rights and other licenses granted to Customer under that Software package shall terminate and Customer shall immediately stop using (and Defense Unicorns may disable) Software that was provisioned thereunder; and (ii) Customer will promptly pay all Fees and other charges accruing under the Software license prior to expiration or termination. Additionally, if Defense Unicorns terminates an Software License for cause, then Customer must pay to Defense Unicorns all unpaid Fees that were to have been paid for the remainder of the applicable License Term had it not terminated, in addition to Defense Unicorns’ other rights and remedies. - iv. Upon expiration or termination of an SOW for any reason, Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services under the SOW (including any delivery due after termination, whether or not such delivery is in process at the time of expiration or termination) and Customer shall promptly pay Defense Unicorns a portion of the Fees that would have been due upon future attainment of delivery or other milestones (“Goals”) computed on a prorated basis equal to the number of days that Defense Unicorns worked towards the attainment of such Goals prior to termination relative to the number of days specified in the SOW for attainment of Goals. - e. Renewals. Unless otherwise specified on the Order Form, upon expiration of the initial period, the License Term or Subscription Term will automatically renew for successive one year renewal periods at (a) the Fees applicable to each such License Term or Subscription Term on the original Order Form (subject to an increase of up to 4% or the increase in the Consumer Price Index over the immediately preceding 12 months, at Defense Unicorns’ discretion), or (b) the revised annual list price, if such a revision is provided by Defense Unicorns no less than sixty (60) days prior to expiration of the applicable Term. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Term shall not automatically renew if either party gives notice to the other of its intention not to renew at least thirty (30) days before the expiration of the applicable Term. - 12. Indemnification and Limitation of Liability. a. Indemnification by Defense Unicorns. Defense Unicorns, at its expense, will defend and settle any claim to the extent alleging that Customer’s use Software or Services, as permitted under this Agreement, directly infringes any U.S. patent or U.S. copyright, and will pay any settlement or judgment to the extent based on such allegation, including payment of reasonable attorney fees and other costs of defense. In order to make a claim under this Section, Customer must: (i) promptly notify Defense Unicorns in writing of the claim; (ii) grant Defense Unicorns sole control of the defense and settlement of the claim; and (iii) provide Defense Unicorns with all assistance, information and authority reasonably required for the defense and settlement of the claim. If in Defense Unicorns’ reasonable judgment a claim appears likely, then Defense Unicorns may at its own election and expense: (i) procure for Customer the right to continue using the Software; (ii) modify Software or Services to avoid the claim, including by removing allegedly infringing functionality; or (iii) if procurement of the right of continued use or modifications to avoid infringement are not feasible without materially impairing the operation of Software or Services, either: (A) terminate any affected Subscription and refund on a pro rata basis Fees (if any) prepaid for same based on the portion of the License Term remaining at the time of such termination; and/or (B) terminate Customer’s right to use any affected Software and refund any unused prepaid Fees paid by Customer for access to and use of the Software. Defense Unicorns will have no obligation under this Section defend or settle any claim to the extent: (i) the alleged infringement is based upon the combination of Software and Services with third-party products, services, or data; (ii) based upon modifications of Software and Services made at the request of Customer or by a party other than Defense Unicorns; (iii) misuse of the Software and Services; or (iv) Customer’s failure to use the most recent version of Software provided by Defense Unicorns. THE REMEDY IN THIS SECTION IS DEFENSE UNICORNS’ SOLE OBLIGATION AND LIABILITY AND CUSTOMER’S EXCLUSIVE REMEDY RELATING TO ANY CLAIM OR ALLEGATION AGAINST CUSTOMER OR OTHERS ASSERTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT OR MISAPPROPRIATION. - b. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. NEITHER PARTY NOR ANY OF ITS LICENSORS OR INFORMATION PROVIDERS AND OTHER SUPPLIERS AND THEIR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONSULTANTS, AFFILIATES, AND AGENTS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO THE OTHER PARTY OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OR FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, USE, OR DATA, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR CUSTOMER’S USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR ARISING UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF THE FIRST PARTY IS AWARE OF OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NEITHER PARTY SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE OTHER PARTY’S USE OF ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES UNDER A TRIAL PERIOD OR ON ANY OTHER TRIAL OR EVALUATION BASIS, INCLUDING ANY BETA SERVICES OR FEATURES. - c. SUBJECT TO THE FOREGOING, BUT EXCLUDING EACH PARTY’S INDEMNITY OBLIGATIONS HEREUNDER, EACH PARTY’S AGGREGATE, CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO THE OTHER PARTY OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMING THROUGH THE OTHER PARTY FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING UNDER OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE OTHER PARTY’S USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR ARISING UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE AMOUNTS PAID BY CUSTOMER TO DEFENSE UNICORNS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE FIRST EVENT THAT GIVES RISE TO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES CLAIMED BY EITHER PARTY. THE EXISTENCE OF MULTIPLE CLAIMS SHALL NOT EXPAND THESE LIMITS. CUSTOMER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE FEES CHARGED BY DEFENSE UNICORNS REFLECT THE ALLOCATION OF RISK SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT AND THAT DEFENSE UNICORNS WOULD NOT ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT THESE LIMITATIONS ON ITS LIABILITY. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS APPLY, EVEN IF THE REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. - 13. Confidentiality. a. Confidential Information. A party receiving Confidential Information (“Receiving Party”) from the other party (“Disclosing Party”) will: (a) protect the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information using the same degree of care, and in no event less that reasonable care, that it uses to protect its own Confidential Information, (b) use the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information for only for purposes consistent with this Agreement, and (c) limit access to Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information to its employees, contractors, or agents who are involved in performing this Agreement, have a “need to know,” and have signed a non-disclosure agreement with terms no less restrictive than those herein. Customer shall treat the terms of this Agreement as Confidential Information of Defense Unicorns. - b. Compelled Disclosure. If the Receiving Party is compelled to disclose by law, order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, regulatory agency, or other governmental body (each, an “Order”) any Confidential Information, the Receiving Party will, if legally permissible, promptly give the Disclosing Party written notice of the Order and reasonable assistance to the Disclosing Party prior to disclosure to provide the Disclosing Party with the opportunity to interpose any and all objections it may have to disclosure of the information required by the Order and seek a protective order or other appropriate relief. - c. Equitable Relief. Each Party recognizes that the Confidential Information is unique and that no adequate remedy at law exists for the breach of any provision of this Section. Any such breach would cause irreparable harm to the Disclosing Party, allowing the Receiving Party or third parties to unfairly compete. Therefore, in case of such breach or threat thereof, the Disclosing Party has the right to seek injunctive and other equitable relief, without the need to prove damages, in addition to any legal remedies available. - 14. General. a. Choice of Law and Venue. This Agreement, the rights and obligations of the parties hereto, and any claims or disputes relating thereto, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware without regard to its choice of law provisions. Each of the parties agrees that any dispute between the parties shall be resolved only in the courts of the State of Delaware or the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and the appellate courts having jurisdiction of appeals in such courts. The United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply to this Agreement. - b. Modification. Except for any changes to the SLA, any modification to this Agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties. - c. Construction. In constructing the terms of this Agreement, no presumption shall operate in favor of or against any party because of its counsel’s role in drafting the terms and provisions hereof. In the case of a Separate Agreement being executed by the Customer with Defense Unicorns for the Software or Services, the following conditions will apply: (i) additional terms stated in the Separate Agreement will also be in effect, and (ii) in the event of any inconsistency between the terms of the Separate Agreement and this Agreement, the Separate Agreement will take precedence. The order of precedence in construction of this Agreement shall be (in order of most controlling to least controlling): (a) the applicable Order Form or SOW; (b) the main body of this Agreement and any amendments; and (c) Defense Unicorns Service Level Agreement. - d. Export Control. Both Parties must adhere to all relevant laws and regulations regarding the import, re-import, export, and re-export of goods, including but not limited to the Export Administration Regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and country-specific economic sanctions programs enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It is the sole responsibility of Customer to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, particularly in regards to the use of the Software and the transfer and processing of Customer’s content, as well as providing such content to Authorized Users. - e. U.S. Government Rights. All software and any technical data contained in the Software or results of the Services are “commercial items,” as defined in 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212. The use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the Software or results of the Services, and any data relating thereto or derived therefrom, is restricted in accordance with 48 C.F.R. §12.211, 48 C.F.R. §12.212, 48 C.F.R. §227.7102-2, and 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. This is in lieu of, and supersedes, any Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”), the Defense FAR Supplement (“DFARS”), or other agency supplemental clause or provision that addresses government rights in computer software or technical data. - f. Force Majeure. No party shall be liable or responsible to the other party, nor be deemed to have defaulted under or breached this Agreement, for any reasonable delay in fulfilling or performing any obligation under this Agreement (other than the obligation to pay money), where the delay or failure is directly caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, epidemics or pandemics, quarantines, sanctions and other government actions, war, terrorism, natural disasters, extreme adverse weather, systemic electrical, telecommunications, or other utility failure; technology attacks, and labor disputes. - g. Notice. Except as expressly otherwise provided herein, all notices shall be in writing and deemed delivered the earlier of: (a) actual receipt; (b) upon delivery by a nationally recognized overnight courier (receipt requested) to the receiving party’s address as specified herein or updated by written notice; or (c) when received via electronic communications as evidenced by either party’s contemporaneously created computer records. The parties’ addresses for notice are set forth above. Either party may change its address of record by giving the other ten (10) days’ notice. Any notices given by Customer to Defense Unicorns under this Agreement shall be given in writing and shall be delivered to the following address and/or email: Defense Unicorns, Inc. Attention: Legal Dept. 555 E Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 114 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 legal@defenseunicorns.com - h. Relationship Between the Parties. The parties are independent contractors. Neither party is the agent, partner, employee, fiduciary, or joint venturer of the other party under this Agreement. There are no third-party beneficiaries under this Agreement. - i. Remedies. Except as otherwise provided herein, the parties’ rights and remedies under this Agreement are cumulative and non-exclusive. No single right or remedy shall be exclusive of any other which is consistent with the former. Customer acknowledges that the Software and Services contain valuable trade secrets and proprietary information of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers, that any actual or threatened breach of this Agreement by Customer would constitute immediate, irreparable harm for which monetary damages would be an inadequate remedy, and that injunctive relief is an appropriate remedy for such breach. - j. Waivers. All waivers must be in writing. Any waiver or failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement on one occasion shall not be deemed a waiver of any other provision or of such provision on any other occasion. - k. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is held unenforceable by a court, such provision may be changed and interpreted by the court to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. - l. Assignment. Defense Unicorns may assign this Agreement, without restriction, upon notice to the Customer. Except as otherwise provided herein, Customer may not assign any of its rights or obligations hereunder, whether by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior express written consent of Defense Unicorns; provided, however, Customer may assign this Agreement in its entirety, together with all rights and obligations hereunder, to any party that is not an embargoed party in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets related to this Agreement, and Customer shall provide Defense Unicorns with prior written notice of such assignment. - m. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the final and entire agreement between the parties regarding the subject of this Agreement and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements, understandings, course of performance, and communications, whether written or oral. In no event shall any clauses, terms, or conditions of an Authorized User, such as U.S. Government, flow-down to Defense Unicorns, or into this Agreement, or otherwise be deemed to be included or apply to this Agreement, without Defense Unicorns’ prior and express written consent. - 15. Definitions. “Authorized Users” means (a) any individual or entity that directly or indirectly accesses or uses the Software through access authorized by Customer; or (b) employees and contractors working on behalf of and authorized by Customer. - “Confidential Information” means all nonpublic information disclosed by a party to the other party, whether orally or in writing, that is designated as “confidential” or that, given the nature of the information or circumstance surrounding its disclosure, should reasonably be understood to be confidential. Defense Unicorns’ Confidential Information includes nonpublic information relating to Defense Unicorns’ or its partners’ products or services, technology, customers, business plans, promotional or marketing activities, and financial information, third party information that Defense Unicorns is obligated to keep confidential, and the nature and content of any discussions or negotiations between the parties. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information does not include any information that: (a) is or becomes generally known to the public without breach of any confidentiality obligation, (b) was known to the receiving party prior to its disclosure by the disclosing party without breach of any confidentiality obligation, (c) is received from a third party free from, and without breach of, any confidentiality obligation or (d) was independently developed by the receiving party without reference to disclosing party’s Confidential Information. - “Customer” includes any entity that is owned, operated, or controlled by Customer (each, a “Customer Affiliate”). - “Fees” means the fees paid by Customer for Software or Services specified in an Order Form. - “Intellectual Property” means embodiments of any Intellectual Property Rights, whether in electronic, written or other media, including (a) works of authorship, (b) inventions, discoveries and improvements, (c) technical data, (d) user interfaces, test reports, bills of material, building instructions, lab notebooks, samples, tools, materials, and apparatuses, and (e) recordings, graphs, drawings, reports, analyses and other writings. - “Intellectual Property Rights” means all worldwide intellectual property rights, including rights in and to (a) patents and other governmental grants for the protection of inventions or industrial designs, (b) copyrights and moral rights, (c) trade secrets and know-how, (d) trademarks, trade names and service marks, (e) domain names, web addresses and other universal resource locator (URL) registrations, (f) rights of publicity, and (g) database rights. - “License Term” means, with respect to a Software package, the Term of that Software package, including (if applicable) the initial term and any renewal terms. - “Order Form” means a written ordering document, physically or electronically signed by both Customer and Defense Unicorns, which specifies Software packages, Services, and other entitlements purchased by Customer. - “Professional Services” means consulting and other professional services provided by Defense Unicorns for the implementation, configuration, and other related tasks for the Software under this Agreement, as specified in an Order Form or SOW. - “Services” means Professional Services, Support Services, or Training Services, as applicable. - “Software” means the software specified in an Order Form relating to this Agreement. - “Subscription Term” means, with respect to a particular Subscription, the term of that Subscription, including the initial specified term and any renewal terms. - “Subscription” means a limited-time, renewable entitlement for Customer to receive one or more Services, as specified in an Order Form. - “Support Services” means the support services provided by Defense Unicorns under this Agreement, as specified in an Order Form or SOW. - “Training Services” means in-person or remote product related training services provided by Defense Unicorns under this Agreement, as specified in an Order Form. - “Unique Environment Configuration” means an isolated, self-contained computing environment customized to meet specific use cases, user requirements, security standards, and/or system constraints, where the environment configuration parameters include custom infrastructure as code development, specific Authorization To Operate (“ATO”) documentation, and/or other custom support to enable operation of the Software in the computing environment. Defense Unicorns’ characterization of Customer’s various computing environment and their respective uniqueness for the purposes of determining the Unique Environment Configurations(s) shall be dispositive. ###### Exhibit A Defense Unicorns Service Level Agreement - 1. Definitions. a. “ATO Documentation” means Security Controls Traceability Matrix (“SCTM”) for technical controls of UDS Core, Software Bill of Material (“SBOM”), list of services and containers, Grype scans, network diagram, and other technical documents pertaining to UDS Core. - b. “Deployment Paradigm” means a declarative configuration of specific infrastructure resources, including but not limited to the Kubernetes distribution for container orchestration. - c. “Infrastructure” means the resources required to deploy the Unified Defense Stack (“UDS”) Core platform, including a Kubernetes distribution for container orchestration and other dependencies such as databases, object storage, networking, caching, roles and virtualization. - d. “Privileged Access” means the requisite authorization and credentials for Defense Unicorns support personnel to gain access to the representative production environment and complete deployment, testing, and operations as required. - e. “Representative Production Environment” means a non-production environment that has architectural parity (to the extent technically possible) with the target production environment, where the representative environment may be owned by Defense Unicorns or the Customer. - 2. General Support Services a. Applicability; Scope. During the License Term of a given Software, Defense Unicorns will respond to incidents, troubleshooting requests, questions and clarifications on features, documentation, deployments or otherwise provide assistance to the Customer with regard to such licensed Software (“General Support Services” or “GSS”). - b. Severity Level Definitions. Defense Unicorns uses the following levels to classify issues: i. Severity 1 – Critical: Software is unavailable or completely unusable. The situation halts Customer operations and no known workaround exists. - ii. Severity 2 – High: Software is functioning, but use is highly degraded or reduced and causing significant impact to operations. Key features may be unavailable or extremely slowed, with no known acceptable workaround. - iii. Severity 3 – Moderate: Software experiences non-critical disruption or loss of operational functionality. Functions are other than “normal,” but impact to Customer operations is manageable to low by using available workarounds. - iv. Severity 4 – Low: General questions or clarifications on features, documentation, and/or deployments. There is little to no impact on the operation of Customer environment. Software is still unaffected and work is not impeded, including by using available workarounds. - c. Response Times and Coverage. | ImpactFirst Response Time (FRT) SLA*Hours of Coverage**How to Submit | | Severity 4 – Low***48 HoursBusiness HoursEmail | | Severity 3 – Moderate***24 hoursBusiness HoursEmail | | Severity 2 – High4 hoursBusiness HoursEmail → Phone | | Severity 1 – Critical1 hour24 hours, 7 days a weekEmail → Phone | - d. Business Hours. SLA times listed are time frames in which the Customer can expect the first response from Defense Unicorns. Time should not be construed as “time-to-resolution.” ** The support team is available during regular business hours to assist with any calls. Calls received outside of these hours will be redirected to a mobile phone. We will do our best to answer and address the calls received outside of our regular business hours within the applicable FRT. *** For support requests at impact levels “Severity 3” and “Severity 4”, logged during non-business hours for, First Response Time commitments shall commence at the beginning of the next business day. | Time ZonesDaysSupport HoursExclusions | | Central Standard or Central Daylight Time (CST, CDT)Monday – Friday0700 – 1900US Federal Holidays | - e. Customer Responsibilities. Defense Unicorns’ support obligations are conditioned upon the following Customer Responsibilities: 1. Customer shall provide a description of the issue, steps taken by the Customer to resolve the issue, the Software being impacted, and Customer’s assessment of the Severity Level. 2. Customer shall respond to Defense Unicorns support communications in a timely manner. 3. The Customer shall limit the maximum number of individuals who can receive direct support from Defense Unicorns to five (5) individuals, and share the names and contact info of such identified individuals. - f. Contact Information. Customer shall send an email to support@defenseunicorns.com with a severity level, in accordance with the definitions set forth in this section, in the email subject line along with the description of the issue and a contact phone number to initiate triaging of the issue. In the event a follow-up phone call is warranted due to the Severity Level, a support Engineer, with the appropriate clearance level, will contact Customer in accordance with the response times provided herein. The account manager(s) will be included in any response to Severity Level 1 or 2 support requests. - g. Severity Level Determination. Defense Unicorns and Customer will make a joint determination of the severity level; however, if the Parties are unable to reach a joint determination on the severity level, Defense Unicorns’ reasonable determination will apply. - h. Changes to Services. Defense Unicorns reserves the right to modify the General Support Services at any time upon thirty (30) days written notice to Customer provided that Defense Unicorns shall not materially reduce or adversely diminish the service levels provided under this Agreement. Such notice may be provided by email or by posting the revised terms on Defense Unicorns’ website. Any change will be binding and effective thirty (30) days after publication of the change on Defense Unicorns’ website(s), or upon notification to Customer by email. - 3. Vulnerability Mitigation Support Services a. Applicability. For Customers whose purchased entitlement, as set forth in the applicable Order Form, include Vulnerability Remediation Support Services (“VRSS”), this section outlines the applicable support services. Each VRSS applies to specific instance of UDS software artifacts. Upon initial delivery of the UDS artifacts in a Customer’s private GitHub repository, the Customer will receive a Software Bill Of Materials (“SBOM”) and Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (“CVE”) scan results with vulnerability attestations. - b. Scope of Service. Defense Unicorns will make reasonable efforts to mitigate and remediate CVE that meet all the following criteria: i. Defense Unicorns’ scanners identify a CVE affecting a UDS artifact and the CVE is “new,” meaning it is identified in a subsequent scan and not been identified in the initial CVE scan results provided at the time of delivery of the UDS artifact; - ii. The CVE is scored critical or high according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (“CVSS”), Version 3; - iii. The CVE is independently fixable of any other bugs; and - iv. Either (x) there is an upstream release version available, which a credible and independent third party has verified fixes the CVE (i.e. the project maintainers have release notes or code commit message designating a fix to the CVE); or (y) an affected image can be rebuilt with updated compilers and/or libraries to remediate that CVE. - v. For new CVEs or major CVE events for which there is no upstream release version available that fixes the CVE, Defense Unicorns will make all reasonable efforts to produce and gain Customer concurrence on an acceptable mitigation plan. Upon availability of an upstream fix/patch for a qualifying CVE, Defense Unicorns will make all reasonable efforts to patch the CVE and make updated UDS artifacts available within the below specified timeframes. Defense Unicorns has no obligation beyond good faith mitigations and workarounds until an upstream fix becomes available. Defense Unicorns will make re-architecture and reconfiguration choices in good faith to limit dependencies at the platform layer, including by rebuilding images affected by CVEs to remediate where Defense Unicorns has largest configuration control. - c. Response Time; Time-to-Mitigate Timeline. i. Severity Scoring. Defense Unicorns will assign each CVE a severity score according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (“CVSS”) version 3, in accordance with the standards described at [Link: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss] https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss. | CVSS ScoreNotification MethodHours of Coverage*First Response Time (“FRT”)Time-To-Mitigate (“TTM”) | | 9.0. – 10.0 (Critical)RSS, Email, and/or Phone24 hours, 7 days a week24 Hours15 Days | | 7.0 – 8.9 (High)RSS, Email24 hours, 7 days a week36 Hours60 Days | | 6.9 – 0.0 (High)RSS, EmailBusiness Hours48 Hours90 Days | - The support team is available during regular working hours to assist with any calls. Calls received outside of these hours will be redirected to a mobile phone. We will do our best to answer and address the call. From time to time, Customer may request mitigation or remediation of a specific vulnerability that is not identified with Defense Unicorns’ scanners. In such instance, Defense Unicorns will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the Customer request, where any remediation or mitigation would be contingent on availability of an upstream fix/patch. d. Scanning Frequency. Defense Unicorns will provide Customer: (a) CVE results from new scans whenever a new UDS release is made available to Customer; and (b) updated UDS artifacts in the private repository of the Customer. - 4. UDS Environment Setup Services a. Applicability; Scope. Defense Unicorns will create and deliver UDS artifacts, subject to the Customer obligations and deployment environment assumptions as set for in this section. Defense Unicorns will: i. Deliver UDS Artifacts. Defense Unicorns will create secure and integrated UDS artifacts able to deploy the infrastructure, platform, and applications to the Customer’s mutually agreed upon target environment, where testing of such artifacts prior to production deployment will be undertaken in a Representative Production Environment if available. - ii. Support. Defense Unicorns will provide Customer detailed ATO Documentation and other documentation for the use of the UDS artifacts. For a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery of the UDS artifacts, Defense Unicorns will further provide support for outages and other production-level incidents in environments using UDS artifacts in accordance with the GSS. - iii. Vulnerability Management. For a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery of the UDS artifacts, Defense Unicorns will conduct vulnerability scanning, mitigation planning and implementation, and patching/remediation in accordance with services set forth in VRSS. - iv. Dedicated Account Management. For a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery of the UDS artifacts, Defense Unicorns will provide Customer a single point of contact as dedicated support. The contact will facilitate initial deployment and support issue resolution in accordance with the applicable General Support Services and VRSS. - b. Customer Obligations. Defense Unicorns’ ability and timeline to deliver UDS artifacts is contingent on the following Customer obligations and environment assumptions: i. Customer shall review all materials shared by Defense Unicorns, including the environment assumptions outlined below, by its business stakeholders, subject matter experts, and/or IT personnel, in a timely manner for gathering and implementing functional requirements. - ii. Customer is responsible for conducting any resource provisioning activities, as applicable, required for the creation of the UDS artifacts or initial deployment. - iii. Customer and its vendors must provision infrastructure account access, and authorize any required storage solutions, databases, internal admin users, and external users. - iv. Customer technical responsibilities may include providing (m) access to DNS server to configure domain entry; (n) TLS certs; (o) a sub domain and IP list; (p) identify and select a virtualization solution for object storage; (q) identify and select a database management solution; (r) acquire and make available custom resources such as GPUs (for AI workloads); (s) grant permissions for Defense Unicorns’ support engineers to access the Representative Production Environment; or grant authorization to Defense Unicorns to leverage an environment of its own; and (t) boundary routing and/or firewall rules. - v. Customer shall provide Defense Unicorns console access to a shared environment or approval for use of Defense Unicorns’ own environment to complete requisite testing prior to delivering the UDS artifacts and ATO Documentation. - vi. Defense Unicorns shall provide Customer materials and assumptions prior to delivery of UDS artifacts. Customer acknowledges these materials and assumptions may require Customer action to implement or authorize necessary access. The provided materials and assumptions include: (l) resources (compute/store) usage estimates; (m) estimated supported user count per product (along with estimated scalability); (n) storage class requirements for the cluster; (o) required [AWS] permissions and roles; (p) list of required storage buckets; (q) list of required databases; and (r) high level (generic) architecture diagram showing which applications need to communicate with storage solutions, databases, internal admin users and external users. - c. Training. Customer may purchase training services. The training includes the option of having at least one Defense Unicorns support engineer on-site for up to two days, with the possibility of remote training upon request. This support engineer can work alongside the Customer’s technical team during training. - d. Additional Services. The Company may require Customer to subscribe to additional service level support beyond the standard services outlined under GSS or VRSS should the Customer’s environment require such support. The Customer must enter into a separate Service agreement for such additional service level support to maintain their support levels as set forth in this Agreement. - e. Out of Scope. Applications deployed on UDS must have a container image and deployment manifest such as a Helm Chart. Application re-architecture shall not be considered part of any Application Environment Integration Software. --- ### Cookies Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/cookies/ This page is not visible on the site, and so it has no content. The cookies link in the footer anchor-links to the Cookies section of the Privacy Policy page. --- ### Brand Toolkit Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/brand-toolkit/ ###### Defense unicorns ###### brand toolkit Everything you need to represent Defense Unicorns correctly. Grab our logos for press kits, partner pages, and co-branded materials. ##### Whats included? Horizontal Wordmark — Light Center Stacked — Light Horizontal Wordmark — Dark Doug Mascot — Full Color --- ### Defense Unicorns | The Airgap Software Company Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/ #### Get Software to Warfighters We make running modern software on military systems easy. From cloud to edge, satellites to submarines, it just works. The Problem ##### Getting software on military systems is a nightmare. THEY FACE IMPOSSIBLE BARRIERS ##### Schedule delays, cost overruns, program setbacks. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION ##### The Mission Deserves Better: An Open, Secure, Authorized, and Easy-to-Use Solution. ##### The platform ###### UDS: The Complete Software Workflow for Military UDS makes approvals, vulnerability scanning, and compliance simple. Our platform is portable, open, and secure, powering software delivery everywhere the mission takes you. ###### Build Make compliance and security your baseline. ###### Package Bundle once for any and every environment. ###### Deploy Save time and resources by delivering at mission speed. ###### Manage Stay ahead of threats with real-time observability. The power of Airgap ##### To the airgap and beyond Off-grid doesn’t have to mean disconnected. Defense Unicorns’ revolutionary technology makes it possible to transport cloud-native software into all kinds of airgapped environments, putting the advantage right in your team’s hands. ##### Rare by Nature. Real by Design. Defense Unicorns is made up of former service members committed to solving the problems we experienced firsthand. Not only is a better way to deliver military software possible, but our goal is to make it open source and at the ready. --- ### Announcing the Airgap Store! Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/announcing-the-airgap-store/ Arming Mission Operators for Modern Warfare One App at a Time WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2024 — Today, Defense Unicorns, a veteran-founded, Department of Defense (DoD) focused, software delivery company, announces the launch of the Airgap Store™, a marketplace of applications that support national security missions. The Airgap Store will arm mission operators for modern warfare one application at a time, going from an initial release of dozens of applications to its intended catalog of 1,000s of mission capabilities. With this new offering, Defense Unicorns expands on its groundbreaking Unified Defense Stack (UDS) platform, delivering software solutions that can be deployed anywhere the mission requires. As the name implies, the Airgap Store focuses on capabilities that are supported in Airgap environments, which means fully disconnected, semi-disconnected, or secure environments with strong firewalls, such as DoD cloud environments or corporate networks that support critical infrastructure. The CEO of Defense Unicorns, Rob Slaughter, views this capability as a game changer for the United States and its allies. “Modern warfare has changed dramatically over the last decade. It’s no longer acceptable to continue to go to war with outdated non-modern solutions. The Airgap Store is an easy-to-use on-demand solution for DoD mission partners to discover and determine what mission capabilities they can easily deploy to any environment.” The Airgap Store utilizes the robust capabilities of UDS, providing DoD program managers and mission operators with rapid access to pre-integrated applications tailored to the unique needs of the defense sector. The catalog offers a broad range of mission-critical software that is portable, secure, and compliant with DoD requirements. Powered by the UDS platform, the Airgap Store ensures software is always available at the speed and scale required by complex and highly secure military operations. “Delivering software in the DoD starts with understanding what capabilities actually exist that can deploy to a mission environment.” said DoD veteran and UDS lead Austen Bryan, “This requires an understanding of cyber security, disparate infrastructures, security classifications, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation. The truth is, the capabilities were impossible to find. That changes today with the launch of the Airgap Store. Government Program Managers and their teams can find, research, and decide among a growing list of capabilities that can deploy to where their needs are.” UDS, an airgap-native platform, has already been deployed across critical systems in the Navy, Air Force, and Space Force. It has enabled the seamless delivery of software from development to deployment, simplifying and accelerating the Authorization to Operate (ATO) process and ensuring secure operations across hundreds of deployments and multiple classification levels. Jeff McCoy, the CTO and co-founder of Defense Unicorns, says, “The Airgap Store combines the technology we developed for UDS with a set of mission applications that we felt many of our mission customers were commonly requesting. It’s things we either felt we wished we had when we ourselves were active duty or things we see a large demand for across the DoD” The Airgap Store offers a searchable catalog of secure, compliant applications ready to be rapidly deployed in disconnected, semi-disconnected, and highly secure environments. With these tools, program managers and mission influencers can quickly find the solutions they need to meet operational requirements, accelerating deployment timelines and reducing barriers to mission success. ###### Key features of UDS that will be included in all Airgap Store deployments Fast – UDS accelerates initial ATOs and on-demand updates by automating many parts of the software delivery lifecycle​​, allowing for the delivery of an initial ATO security documentation in as little as 2 weeks. Secure – UDS is committed to a 0 CVE posture with continuous monitoring, logging, and alerting across a defense-in-depth approach to cybersecurity. Compliant – UDS satisfies up to 90% of the NIST 800-53 technical controls that program offices are responsible for in IL-4, 5 environments. Airgap Native – UDS is designed for, but not limited to, airgap systems. As a Defense-first solution, UDS was designed from the beginning to support disconnected, semi-disconnected, and highly secure environments. Highly Distributable – UDS is infrastructure agnostic, designed to deploy where the Mission requires: cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge alike. Portable – UDS’ portability enables mission capability providers to rapidly develop, test, deploy, and operate regardless of infrastructure, supporting cloud, bare-metal, and tactical edge with uniformity. Decentralized – UDS reduces mission dependency on single centralized solutions and is instead deployed to many environments, giving your mission the assurance it requires in real wartime scenarios. Lower the Barrier of Entry – UDS makes complex software delivery easy by providing a user-friendly experience that doesn’t require technical expertise. Free of Vendor Lock – is a solution built entirely through open source capabilities, that use flexible software licenses that allow any user to continue to leverage the solution, even if not on contract with Defense Unicorns. By the end of 2025, Defense Unicorns aims to have hundreds of mission-critical applications available through the Airgap Store, ensuring that the U.S. defense apparatus can operate with maximum agility and security in any environment. This innovation aligns with Defense Unicorns’ long-term vision of revolutionizing how national security software is delivered and sustained. If you’re interested in learning more about the Airgap Store, please contact apps@defenseunicorns.com. For more information or to book a demonstration, contact [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Defense Unicorns. About Defense Unicorns: Defense Unicorns is a defense tech startup founded in 2021 with the vision of advancing freedom and independence globally. Defense Unicorns focuses on airgap native software and platform solutions that solve national security issues. Defense Unicorns builds cutting-edge technology to solve the biggest challenges mission systems face when developing and deploying software and AI solutions in some of the most extreme environments on the planet. --- ### News Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/category/news/ #### Category: News --- ### Paramify Partnership for Compliance Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-and-paramify-unite-to-give-more-nationally-vital-organizations-the-secure-foundation-they-need-to-succeed/ This Integration Enables Defense and Federal Agencies to Automate Security Compliance and Onboard New Capabilities Faster Than Ever San Antonio, TX (July 29, 2026) Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery and national security missions, today announced a strategic partnership with Paramify, a leading provider of compliance automation, to deliver a streamlined, scalable path to federal security compliance for defense and government customers. “Paramify accelerates our ability to onboard new mission partners,” said Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “By embedding Paramify’s automation into UDS, we can take on more customers without sacrificing the security rigor that our defense environments demand.” The partnership integrates Paramify’s compliance automation platform directly into Defense Unicorns’ Unified Defense Stack (UDS). This further enables teams to deploy mission-critical software in complex, regulated environments with greater speed, clarity, and most importantly collaboration with critical, additional organizations. Paramify’s risk-first platform automatically maps security controls across multiple frameworks, including IL 4 and 5. This allows Defense Unicorns to simultaneously bring customers, including those operating complex programs across four to five environments, into compliance-ready postures at a pace previously not achievable. What once required significant manual effort, resources, and time can now be automated to support ten or more organizations at a time. “This integration means our customers don’t have to choose between speed and compliance,” said Mike Schreiner, COO at Paramify. “UDS gives us the delivery foundation to get updates out quickly, and Paramify serves as the foremost tool for key players to ensure every environment stays compliant as it scales.” Together, the two companies are targeting the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy as well as broader federal compliance use cases as an immediate priority. Defense Unicorn’s UDS deployment architecture coupled with Paramify’s federal security compliance platform provides a streamlined, repeatable solution across U.S warfighters’ defense programs. As agencies like the Army require capability updates, UDS allows those updates to be delivered and validated faster, while Paramify ensures that compliance documentation and control updates keep pace in real time. “Paramify is exactly the kind of partner we need to fulfill our mission. Their ability to automate compliance at scale means our customers spend less time navigating red tape and more time focused on the mission,” concluded Slaughter. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. About Paramify Paramify is the leading enterprise Risk Management platform for GRC professionals, consultants, and advisory firms, using automation and AI to eliminate the paper chase and manual tasks for frameworks like FedRAMP, CMMC, DoD Impact Levels, GovRAMP, SOC 2, and more — cutting compliance work from months to hours. Founded in 2022, Paramify powers hundreds of enterprise programs, including over 30% of the FedRAMP Marketplace, and is trusted by top GRC consulting and advisory organizations as the go-to platform for delivering faster, higher-quality outcomes. Learn more at [Link: https://www.paramify.com/?utm_source=content&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=defense-unicorns] www.paramify.com --- ### Rob Slaughter on SAN Interview Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-ceo-rob-slaughter-featured-on-san-interview/ Defense Unicorns continues to gain national attention for its mission to modernize software delivery across the Department of Defense (DoD). In a recent interview with Straight Arrow News (SAN), our CEO and co-founder Rob Slaughter shared how our veteran-led team is tackling outdated, insecure, and inefficient infrastructure with solutions designed for today’s mission needs. ##### Watch the Full Interview Watch the full interview below, hosted on our YouTube channel: ##### Key Discussion Points In the SAN interview, Rob highlights the challenges the DoD faces when relying on legacy systems and foreign-sourced technology. He discusses how Defense Unicorns’ Unified Delivery System (UDS) provides a secure, portable, and airgap-native platform for delivering mission applications anywhere they’re needed, from cloud-connected environments to the tactical edge. The conversation also touches on the importance of cybersecurity, speed to mission, and reducing barriers to software adoption in government environments. As Rob notes, the Defense Unicorns team draws on first-hand experience as veterans and technologists who understand both the operational needs of warfighters and the complexities of modern software delivery. ##### Growing Recognition of Software Modernization This interview underscores the growing recognition of how critical software modernization is to national security. Rob’s insights demonstrate why organizations like Defense Unicorns are essential to bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and mission-critical defense applications. The discussion reinforces our core belief that software should be a strategic deterrent, delivered at the speed of relevance to support those who defend our nation. ##### Additional Coverage You can also read the full coverage and original video on Straight Arrow News: [Link: https://san.com/cc/veteran-led-defense-unicorns-works-to-modernize-us-software-infrastructure/] Veteran-led Defense Unicorns works to modernize U.S. software infrastructure. ##### Our Continued Mission At Defense Unicorns, our mission is to deliver modern, secure software to the warfighter at the speed of relevance, making software a strategic deterrent. This interview underscores the growing recognition of how critical software modernization is to national security, and the role UDS plays in that transformation. As we continue to expand our impact across the defense ecosystem, media recognition like this SAN interview helps validate the importance of our work and the urgent need for modernized software delivery in national security contexts. --- ### UDS Fleet Launch: Software at the Edge Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-launches-uds-fleet-to-put-mission-operators-in-command-at-the-tactical-edge/ Defense Unicorns Launches UDS Fleet to Put Mission Operators in Command at the Tactical Edge New product gives mission operators unified visibility and control across distributed defense systems San Antonio, TX, June 2, 2026 — Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery for national security missions, today announced the launch of UDS Fleet, a purpose-built product within the Unified Defense Stack (UDS) platform designed to solve one of defense’s most persistent challenges: deploying and managing software at scale across distributed systems operating on the front lines. UDS Fleet is built for mission operators managing dispersed fleets of tactical systems in complex, contested environments. By replacing fragmented, manual processes with centralized fleet management, operators gain the clarity and control needed to maintain operational readiness at speed and scale. “The way defense software gets deployed and managed hasn’t kept pace with the speed of modern missions. UDS Fleet changes that at the edge. We’re giving mission operators a clear, practical path to manage secure software across distributed systems, whether they’re in a data center or operating in the most contested environments on the planet. This is about giving the people who defend this nation the tools they need to move fast and win,” said Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO, Defense Unicorns. UDS Fleet is part of the broader Unified Defense Stack platform, which also includes UDS Enterprise — designed for platform engineers and cybersecurity teams managing cloud and on-premises data center environments. The two products are designed to work together, with UDS Fleet extending secure software delivery out to the edge as an organization’s operational footprint grows. The new product centralizes and simplifies fleet-wide software management through two powerful capabilities: UDS Fleet Connect — A simple, intuitive interface that allows mission operators to connect to and manage software on individual systems. Available as an Android application and a browser-based desktop app, with iOS support planned for a future release. UDS Fleet Command — A unified view for fleet-wide observability and management, giving operators unified visibility and control across all systems in their environment. “UDS Fleet reflects our commitment to delivering software that is secure by design, operationally resilient, and built for the realities of modern defense missions. We’re replacing complexity with clarity, from the data center to the tactical edge,” added Slaughter. Defense Unicorns’ customers include the U.S. military’s most critical branches, the Air Force, Navy, Army, and Space Force, with software deployed across more than 80 mission systems and organizations. The company holds a $300 million DOD-wide contract for software and GenAI solutions in classified and air-gapped environments, plus a $15 million Space Force contract to modernize launch range systems. Defense Unicorns also works alongside major defense primes and system integrators, including Maximus and SAIC, and is accessible to federal agencies, including DHS and CISA, through streamlined procurement vehicles. “UDS Fleet was born out of a real mission need that was discovered out of a value alignment with open source software. Here at Defense Unicorns we are enabling soldiers, sailors, and pilots to deploy real mission software on complex distributed systems,” said Eddie Zaneski, Field Chief Technology Officer at Defense Unicorns. “ Never in my career have I worked on technology that will have such an impact for our warfighters,” concluded Zaneski. ##### About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. --- ### Named to SVDG’s NatSec100 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-named-to-silicon-valley-defense-groups-natsec100/ The annual NatSec100 highlights the top 100 venture/PE-backed American defense companies that are innovating, building, and delivering warfighting capabilities. We’re honored to be included on the list at # 38. Read more: [Link: https://www.natsec100.org/] https://www.natsec100.org/ --- ### Defense Unicorns on Bloomberg Tech Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-on-bloomberg-tech/ For defense tech specifically, Bloomberg Tech has become the platform for announcing major defense technology deals and funding. Reaching over 400 million homes worldwide, an appearance on Bloomberg Tech signals that your company has reached institutional-grade credibility. It tells the market that you’re serious enough for the world’s most influential business news network to dedicate airtime to your story. Watch our CEO, Dr. Rob Slaughter discuss our recent Series B raise with the show HERE. --- ### McDowell & Spire Motorsports Partnership Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-partners-with-mcdowell-spire-motorsports/ MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 29, 2026) – Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap-native software delivery, and a veteran-founded military defense technology provider, will join forces with Spire Motorsports and Michael McDowell for the NASCAR Cup Series inaugural visit to the streets of Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, Calif. To commemorate its maiden voyage in NASCAR’s premier division and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, McDowell’s No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will sport a vibrant livery featuring “Doug” The Defense Unicorn. “Defense Unicorns was built by veterans for the mission, and sponsoring Michael McDowell in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Naval Base Coronado is our way of showing up for the people who make that mission possible and saying thank you,” said Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “NASCAR is America’s sport born from grit, built on speed, and beloved by the communities that produce our warfighters. We build alongside our warfighters, and events like this remind us exactly who we’re building for.” Founded in 2021, the San Antonio-headquartered organization took the preliminary steps for its cornerstone Unified Defense Stack (UDS), delivering essential software in mission-critical environments from submarines and forward operating bases to aircraft carriers and space systems. Defense Unicorn’s UDS is a secure, portable platform, purpose-built for delivering software to military systems. UDS includes the essential tools to package, deploy, monitor, and sustain mission applications. Built for versatility and efficiency, the “package once; deploy anywhere” philosophy is paramount for the success of military mission environments, supporting multiple cloud providers and systems. Defense Unicorn’s credibility has translated into landmark contract wins, including a $300 million GSA contract, a $1 billion Space RCO contract, and a role in the approximately $140 billion Golden Dome initiative. The company’s single largest customer engagement is a $100M task order under the GSA contract with the U.S. Navy, underscoring the depth of trust warfighters are placing in the platform. “I’m thrilled to represent Defense Unicorns in San Diego at Naval Base Coronado,” said McDowell “It’s going to be a unique race weekend, something like we have never seen before. My appreciation for the military and its systems is something I take seriously and what better place to represent this important platform than Coronado? I am really looking forward to getting out there and having a good run. We had a lot of speed at the Chicago Street Race last year, and that is really our closest comparison in terms of a venue. I can confidently say our road course program is constantly improving and San Diego is a track that we have circled for a win.” In January, Defense Unicorns achieved a milestone $1 billion+ valuation, officially becoming a true “unicorn” company, guided by the support of Bain Capital and its $136 million Series B investment. Leading into race weekend, the company will host Warhacker, a first-of-its-kind Hackathon in San Diego, with the mission to bring together government, industry, academia, and non-profit companies to build, package, and deploy software solutions to warfighter problems. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/warhacker/] Applications are open now, and the event will be held June 16-19. The NASCAR Cup Series inaugural race from Naval Base Coronado will be televised live on Amazon Prime and HBO Max on Sunday, June 21 beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The 17th of 36 points-paying races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90. --- ### Defense Unicorns UDS Registry Featured on DefenseScoop Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-uds-registry-featured-on-defensescoop/ Defense Unicorns continues to gain recognition for modernizing how the Department of Defense delivers secure software across national security systems. In a recent feature by DefenseScoop, our CEO and co-founder Rob Slaughter shared how UDS Registry is transforming the way mission software is discovered, delivered, and sustained, all within airgap and classified environments. Explore the full DefenseScoop feature here: 🔗 [Link: https://defensescoop.com/2025/09/05/defense-unicorns-uds-registry-software/] Defense Unicorns launches UDS Registry to modernize software delivery for DoD ##### Key Discussion Points In the interview, Rob explains how the UDS Registry serves as the secure, centralized hub for mission-ready software packages across the defense ecosystem. Built on the same architecture as the Unified Defense Stack (UDS), the Registry enables: - Secure, airgap-native delivery of mission applications anywhere, from cloud to tactical edge - Automated compliance and vulnerability mitigation with a dedication to a near-zero CVE posture - Seamless discovery and deployment of pre-verified applications through the Airgap Store By bridging modern DevSecOps with defense-grade resilience, UDS Registry ensures that mission operators can discover, deploy, and prevail, all while maintaining operational security in disconnected or highly regulated environments. ##### Why It Matters DefenseScoop’s coverage underscores a growing recognition: software is now a strategic deterrent. Rob noted that too often, legacy systems and vendor lock-in delay mission outcomes. UDS Registry changes that paradigm by empowering programs to own their baseline, accelerate ATOs, and deploy software anywhere the mission takes them. > “We know we’re not going to win every contract. We know the government isn’t going to pay us for all of those weapon systems, but we believe that the technology that we’ve developed is so important to the nation that we’re giving the majority of it away because we want the rest of the defense industrial base to adopt it” — Rob Slaughter, CEO & Co-Founder, Defense Unicorns ##### Growing Momentum This recognition from DefenseScoop highlights the growing national movement toward software modernization as a core defense capability. UDS and UDS Registry now serve as the foundation for programs across the Navy, Air Force, and Space Force, delivering at the speed of relevance to the warfighter. As Defense Unicorns continues to scale impact across national security programs, coverage like this validates the urgency of our mission and reinforces why UDS is the future of software delivery for the Department of Defense. ##### Our Continued Mission At Defense Unicorns, our mission is clear: To deliver modern, secure software to the warfighter at the speed of relevance, making software a strategic deterrent. Follow us as we continue to advance freedom and independence through innovation built for national defense. ###### Related Resources - [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] Learn more about UDS Registry - [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] Explore UDS Core - [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/start-free/] Get Started with Defense Unicorns --- ### Direct Awards Playbook Download Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/direct-awards-playbook-thank-you/ ###### Here’s your copy of the direct awards playbook ###### Find Unicorns at Upcoming Events ###### discover the uds platform ###### explore UDS Documentation ###### Cut the line and put Defense Unicorns to work today --- ### Direct Awards Playbook Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/direct-awards-playbook/ ##### contracts don’t have to take 18 months As a contracting officer, you know the authorities exist, but finding a legally sound, competition-satisfied path to award still takes time you don’t have. The Defense Unicorns Direct Awards Playbook maps every available vehicle, from the GSA IDIQ for SBIR Phase III orders to Tradewinds, SeaPort NxG, and more, so you can quickly identify the right mechanism for your agency and requirement. No justification-building from scratch. No recreating the wheel. Download it and walk into your next acquisition with a clear path to award. --- ### error-404 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/error-404/ Please go back to home or reach out to us! --- ### AFA Air Space Cyber Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-afa-2026/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### DAFITC Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-dafitic-2026/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### DODIIS Worldwide Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-dodiis-worldwide-copy/ > We’re partnering with [Link: https://www.here.io/conference/dodiis-worldwide] HERE at DoDIIS Worldwide, hosted by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Together, we’re working to advance mission-ready software delivery for soldiers. ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### Global Force Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-global-force-2026/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### Defense Unicorns at Peak Cyber Symposium Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-peak-cyber-sympsoium-copy/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### Space Symposium Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-space-symposium-2026/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### AFCEA TechNet Cyber Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-tech-net-cyber-2026/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created Unified Defense Stack (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### TechNet Indo-Pacific Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/defense-unicorns-events-tech-net-indo-pacific/ ##### RUN MISSION SOFTWARE ANYWHERE At Defense Unicorns, we understand the challenges. That’s why we created (UDS), a secure software delivery platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of DoW missions in the most challenging environments. UDS not only ensures fast, secure deployment of new capabilities but also automatically generates SBOMs and security reports, streamlining the ATO process and enabling faster approvals. ##### WANT TO MEET with our team? Fill out the form and we will reach out to you to find a time that works. --- ### Open Source Summit and Embedded Linux Conference Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/events/open-source-summit-and-embedded-linux-conference/ ##### Brandt Keller Monday, May 18 | 1:30 PM CDT ###### One Signature to Rule Them All: Signed software creates assurances around the integrity and authenticity of how it was produced and by whom. But signing alone is not inherently valuable. The ability to verify the signature in a meaningful way elevates the process to complete the trust cycle. Blend this idea with many disparate signing mechanisms, add the many layers of exchange as software changes hands and where the software ultimately needs to resolve verification, combine it with many different types of artifacts, and you end up with a complex web of requirements that can be difficult to maintain. Zarf, an OpenSSF Sandbox project, takes a different approach. Rather than requiring each artifact to be independently verified against external infrastructure, Zarf consolidates artifacts into a declarative package that is pre-verified at creation time. A single signature covers the entire package. The trusted root is embedded in the CLI and the package contains the signature, enabling meaningful verification anywhere, including entirely airgapped environments, with no external connectivity or additional tooling required. ##### Austin Abro Wednesday, May 20 | 11:55am CDT ###### OCI Images: Not Just for Containers Anymore Docker popularized the container; OCI standardized the artifact. That shift, from a specific format to a global specification, is what allowed us to expand beyond just ‘running apps.’ Now, whether it’s Cosign for security, OpenTofu for infrastructure, or Zarf for air-gapped distribution, the ecosystem is leveraging a common foundation to solve complex supply chain problems. Additionally, Kubernetes’ recent work on OCI read-only volumes signifies a paradigm shift: we are now using images as a pure data transfer mechanism rather than just a runtime environment. Yet the elegant design that enables the OCI images is mostly hidden from users. In this session, we’ll create our own custom OCI artifact from scratch. Along the way, we’ll learn the benefits of the OCI specification: the efficiency of its storage model, its simple cross-platform experience, and its secure-by-default design. Developers will walk away with a starting point for packaging their own custom artifacts, while practitioners will gain a deeper understanding of the OCI artifacts powering their workflows. --- ### F-22 Case Study Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/f-22-case-study/ ##### fly. fix. fly again. Software update cycles on the F-22 once measured in days are now measured in hours. UDS Fleet puts software delivery directly in the hands of aircrew and maintainers at the tactical edge. No hangar, no depot crew, no waiting. Just faster mission readiness. Download the full case study now. --- ### Forbes: Battlefield to Boardroom Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/forbes-battlefield-to-boardroom/ In a new Forbes feature on veteran-led defense technology companies, Defense Unicorns CEO and cofounder Rob Slaughter shares how his experience modernizing software delivery in the Air Force led to the creation of Defense Unicorns. The article explores the company’s rapid growth, mission to get software to the warfighter faster, and why veterans continue to be a driving force behind defense innovation. [Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicahunter-hart/2026/08/03/battlefield-to-boardroom-the-veteran-founders-riding-defense-techs-32-billion-boom/] Read the full article here. An excerpt is included below. Some ex-military entrepreneurs say they prefer to hire veterans. It’s not just altruism. Rob Slaughter, cofounder and CEO of the software startup Defense Unicorns, says vets make good employees because they’ve had to assume leadership roles early in their careers. Slaughter conducts every candidate’s final interview at the $1 billion company (January funding round). In the years since its 2021 founding, he has identified a “magic 2:1 ratio” whereby vets will “outperform somebody on the industry [side] with twice that experience.” About 40% of Defense Unicorns’ employees are veterans. Ironically, he has an easier time hiring strong talent now than he did when he was an Air Force officer working alongside future cofounders Jeff McCoy and Andrew Greene to help the military deploy new software faster. Slaughter found it impossible to hold onto talent back then: His top engineers were contractors whose employers kept reassigning them before they could settle in. He came to believe that the companies were more interested in using their best people to score new work rather than execute the contracts they’d already won. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore. He left the military in 2021 to see if he could better execute from the outside. It’s working: Defense Unicorns’ platform, which helps the U.S. military keep its software up to date, is now embedded in more than 90 systems across the services. Slaughter, 40, has made a fortune that Forbes estimates at $150 million—something he never could have imagined in the Air Force, where even officers must serve for years before they crack six figures. The private sector is more generous. As the money keeps pouring into defense startups, more veterans are discovering they don’t have to choose between pursuing wealth and serving the mission. And the stakes will only get bigger. In a market where tech moves faster than regulation, the rush for contracts and funding will yield lots of big winners, but also big losers, bad actors and collateral damage. Opportunity beckons for America’s ex-warriors. Savvy veterans will harness the tools of entrepreneurial capitalism to help the Pentagon adapt to a changing battlefield—and profit from the gold rush that is just beginning. --- ### hatchIT Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/hatchit/ ##### Case Study: modernizing f-22 software updates Software update cycles on the F-22 once measured in days are now measured in hours thanks to UDS Fleet. By putting software delivery directly in the hands of aircrew and maintainers at the tactical edge, mission operators can fix and fly with no hangar, no depot crew, no waiting. Just faster mission readiness. Download the full case study now. ###### UDS Documentation Learn more about secure software delivery built for National Security missions ###### Resources for Developers Explore how UDS Core helps address the unique challenges of deploying and updating software on military systems. ###### Upcoming Events Connect with our team at events all over the country to learn more about modern software delivery for your mission. ###### Latest News from Defense Unicorns Explore recent updates and news about the company and our mission. ##### Ready to get started? --- ### Modernizing DoD Tactical Software Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/how-defense-unicorns-modernizes-dod-tactical-software-delivery/ Making Software a Strategic Deterrent Through Tactical Edge Deployments COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Mar. 19, 2025 PRNewswire – Today, [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/] Defense Unicorns, a veteran-owned defense tech startup, announced [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/] UDS Tactical Edge – an extension of their defense-focused software platform [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] Unified Defense Stack (UDS), that simplifies software delivery to tactical edge systems anywhere in the world. Modern weapons depend on software, but delivering new software and updates to front-line systems presents unique challenges. Unlike elastic cloud-computing environments, forward-deployed systems are often resource-constrained with finite onboard computational power and forced to operate in semi-disconnected or airgap networks. Additionally, weapon systems are typically managed by military service members who are trained in warfighting – not IT support and platform technology. These factors make updating software baselines of critical defense systems extremely challenging. Most systems only see software updates once a year or less. This is especially true for the most critical systems, which tend to view software updates as high impact events likely to result in mission downtime. However, as the nature of war has shifted to become more data, AI, and ultimately software driven, the need for critical defense systems to update their software baselines more rapidly, and without any mission downtime, has emerged. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/] UDS Tactical Edge makes deploying mission-critical software to any edge system as simple as installing an app on your phone. UDS was built from the ground up, specifically to serve defense systems. It is secure, compliant, works in degraded, denied, and airgap environments. And now with [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/] UDS Tactical Edge, it can help install mission software with a simple press of a button. “At Defense Unicorns, we are on a mission to make software a strategic deterrent,” said Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “That means every weapon system needs to have the ability to update on demand, in minutes, rather than in months or years. In future engagements, your software OODA loop will ultimately determine who wins and who loses. The nation with the ability to update their software the fastest has a significant warfighting advantage.” Whether your mission system is on land, sea, space, or cyberspace, organizations interested in using [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/solutions/industry/portable-devsecops/] UDS Tactical Edge to deploy software to their systems should contact Defense Unicorns to discuss your mission’s unique requirements. Read the [Link: https://uds.defenseunicorns.com/tactical-edge-deployments/overview/?utm_campaign=10000509-2025-03-gtm-UDS-Tactical-Edge&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social] technical documentation for additional information. For more information or to book a demonstration, contact [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/contact/] Defense Unicorns. ###### About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense tech startup founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of Defense. We build innovative technical solutions to securely develop and deploy mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns is trusted by the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. For more information, visit [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/how-defense-unicorns-modernizes-dod-tactical-software-delivery/?utm_campaign=10000509-2025-03-gtm-UDS-Tactical-Edge&utm_source=Press%20release&utm_medium=Press%20release] www.defenseunicorns.com --- ### Legal Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/ This exported page does not contain substantive body content. --- ### National Review Podcast: How AI Can Help Win Wars Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/national-review-podcast-how-ai-can-help-win-wars/ At Warhacker, Defense Unicorns CEO Rob Slaughter sat down with National Review to discuss the hackathon, the Spire 71 car at the Anduril 250 Race the Base, and the future of warfare. They had a great discussion on what AI and rapidly deployed software can do to assist and protect the American warfighter. Listen here: [Link: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/unicorn-hackers-and-nascar/] https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/unicorn-hackers-and-nascar/ --- ### Newsletter Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/newsletter/ ##### The unicorn report Subscribe to The Unicorn Report, Defense Unicorns’ monthly newsletter featuring product updates, engineering insights, industry perspectives, company news, and the ideas shaping the future of mission-driven technology. ##### What do we cover ###### Monthly Updates Stay current with product releases, insights, and the latest from Defense Unicorns. ###### Mission Briefings Find out where unicorns will be and how you can get involved in upcoming events. ###### Mission Impact Discover how we’re helping teams modernize software delivery for national security. ##### Additional Resources ###### See Our Platform Learn how UDS can fit your mission. ###### Book a Discovery We’ll help identify your team’s needs. ###### Find Resources Explore docs and training for developers. --- ### NYSE Floor Talk with Rob Slaughter Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/nyse-floor-talk-with-rob-slaughter/ Rob Slaughter joined Ashley Mastronardi on NYSE Floor Talk to discuss: - Why Defense Unicorns exists: Military systems were built decades ago, and getting modern software to warfighters shouldn’t be this hard. - How our technology serves the military, including delivering software updates to fighter jets like the F-22 and F-16 in minutes, a process that typically costs millions of dollars and takes years. - The role of AI in our platform and why being infrastructure agnostic matters when most systems aren’t AI-ready yet. - Open-source software and why publicly accessible source code strengthens national security. - How cyber and defense are converging, and why the cyber domain is where the battlefield begins Watch the full interview [Link: https://tv.nyse.com/floor-talk/season:4/videos/cyber-live-arizona-defense-unicorn-ceo-rob-slaughter-on-software-use-during-war] on NYSE Floor Talk. --- ### Partnerships Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/partnerships/ ##### Securing the Mission, Together The people protecting freedom deserve software that moves faster than any threat. Our partners share our commitment to getting secure, capable software into the hands of mission teams faster, more reliably, and without compromise. Different capabilities, one mission. ###### Carahsoft [Link: https://www.carahsoft.com/defense-unicorns?utm_source=defense-unicorns&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defense-unicorns&utm_content=partner-presence] Explore Defense Unicorns at Carahsoft Carahsoft is The Trusted IT Solutions Provider®, supporting Federal, State, Local Government, Education, Healthcare, and Private Sector industries. As the Master Aggregator™ for our vendor, reseller and integrator partners, we deliver solutions for Cybersecurity, FinOps, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Artificial Intelligence, Human Capital, Legal & Courtroom Technology, Customer Experience & Engagement, and more. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer and is listed annually among the industry’s fastest growing firms by CRN, Inc., Forbes, Inc. 5000, and Washington Business Journal. Founded in 2004, Carahsoft is headquartered in Reston, VA. Visit us at [Link: https://www.carahsoft.com/defense-unicorns?utm_source=defense-unicorns&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defense-unicorns&utm_content=partner-presence] https://www.carahsoft.com/defense-unicorns. Contact Information: 11493 Sunset Hills Road Suite 100 Reston, Virginia 20190 (888) 662-2724 ###### paramify [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-and-paramify-unite-to-give-more-nationally-vital-organizations-the-secure-foundation-they-need-to-succeed/] Learn More Defense Unicorns and Paramify help defense and federal agencies deploy mission-critical software without letting compliance slow the mission. By integrating automated security compliance into the Unified Defense Stack (UDS), the partnership enables agencies to onboard new capabilities faster, maintain compliance as environments scale, and spend less time navigating manual processes. [Link: https://www.paramify.com/] https://www.paramify.com/ --- ### Product Terms: Dec 2025–Feb 2026 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/product-terms-and-conditions-december-1-2025-to-february-28-2026/ ###### Defense Unicorns License and Service Agreement These terms and conditions (“Agreement“), together with any Order Form (as defined herein) referencing this Agreement are entered into by and between Defense Unicorns and the party identified in the Order Form (“Customer” or “You“) and contain the terms and conditions that govern the use and access by Customer to certain Defense Unicorns software and services, as described below. In consideration of the mutual promises and upon the terms and conditions herein, the parties agree as follows: - 1. Order, Fees, and Payment a. Orders. The parties and their Affiliates may enter into purchase transactions (“Orders”) by executing one or more Order Forms from time to time. When the parties enter into an Order Form, Customer agrees timely to pay to Defense Unicorns the applicable Fees, and Defense Unicorns agrees to provide the purchased Software and Services, in accordance with this Agreement and the applicable Order Form. Except as otherwise specified in this Agreement or in an Order Form: (i) Fees for Software packages or Subscriptions are based on the quantities purchased and not actual usage, (ii) orders and payment obligations are non-cancelable and Fees paid are non-refundable, and (iii) quantities purchased cannot be decreased during any applicable License Term or Subscription Term. - b. Fees. The Fees shall be as specified in the applicable Order Form or, if not so specified, then as otherwise quoted by Defense Unicorns or, in the absence of a quote, then at Defense Unicorns’ standard prices and fees in effect at the time the order is placed. i. If Customer provided a credit card number at the time of purchase, it will be charged upon fulfillment. - ii. For all other Orders, Defense Unicorns will invoice Customer for applicable Fees under each Order Form upon Defense Unicorns’ full or partial provisioning of Software or Services, or delivery of the deliverables, as applicable. - iii. Each Software or Service item identified by product code in an Order Form shall be deemed a separate sale and shall have its own delivery schedule, period of performance, and/or completion date. Defense Unicorns shall invoice Customer for applicable Software or Services Fees, subject to any discounts, upon provisioning. - iv. Unless otherwise expressly set forth in the Order Form, all invoices are due and payable within thirty (30) days of the date of invoice. Unless otherwise specified in an applicable Order Form, all Fees are payable and charged (i) at the beginning of each License Term and Subscription Term, and (ii) at the time of each renewal thereof. - c. Recurring Payments. Defense Unicorns may charge interest for all undisputed amounts not paid when due at the lower of 1.5% interest rate per month or the highest rate permitted by law. Defense Unicorns may suspend or terminate access to any Software or Services if any undisputed invoices are past due, which shall not relieve Customer from its obligation to pay all amounts owed. Each License Term and Subscription Term is a continuous and non-divisible commitment to purchase the applicable Software package or Services for the full duration of the then-current License Term or Subscription Term, as applicable, regardless of any payment schedule. Defense Unicorns will invoice Customer, and Customer will reimburse Defense Unicorns, monthly for actual and reasonable travel and living expenses incurred in connection with Defense Unicorns’ provision of any Professional Services. If Defense Unicorns sends a past due account to collections, Customer will be responsible for any resulting collection and attorneys’ fees. - d. Taxes. Any Fees are exclusive of taxes or duties of any kind. Customer will be responsible for, and will promptly pay, all taxes and duties of any kind (including but not limited to sales, use and withholding taxes) associated with this Agreement or Customer’s use of Software or Services, except for taxes based on Defense Unicorns’ net income. - 2. License. a. License. In accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement and the End User License Agreement (“EULA”) set forth at https://defenseunicorns.com/legal/eula, including the timely payment of all Fees by the Customer, Defense Unicorns hereby grants Customer a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferrable, and non-assignable license to the Customer for the duration of the License Term to (a) access and use the features and functionality of the licensed Software, as specified in the applicable Order Form, and (b) permit Authorized Users access to the licensed Software, provided they comply with the terms of use set forth in this Agreement and the EULA. Additionally, the Customer is granted the right to use any provided documentation, as part of the licensed Software, solely for the purpose of accessing and using the licensed Software. Customer and Authorized Users shall reproduce in full any existing notices with respect to Defense Unicorns’ copyright ownership and reservation of rights on all tangible media containing copies of the Software and documentation. To the extent there is any conflict between the terms of this Agreement and the EULA, the terms of the EULA shall govern with respect to the license grant and use of the Software. - b. Additional Terms. (a) Unless otherwise specified in the applicable Proof of Entitlement, each Software License is granted on a per Unique Environment basis and it may only be exercised with respect to the Unique Environment Configuration identified on the applicable Proof of Entitlement or, if the Proof of Entitlement does not specify such Unique Environment Configuration, then only with respect to one (1) Unique Environment Configuration (“Authorized Environment”); and (b) when a Software License is provisioned on a specific Authorized Environment (by activating, accessing, or using the Software on that Authorized Environment), such Software License, or any rights thereof, cannot be transferred to a different environment, unless Defense Unicorns authorizes such transfer by a written approval. - c. Restrictions. Customer shall not (and may not attempt) to: (a) modify, alter, tamper with, or otherwise create derivative works of the Software; (b) except to the extent such restriction is prohibited by applicable law, reverse engineer, disassemble, or decompile the Software or apply any other process or procedure to derive the source code included in the Software; (c) work around any technical limitations in the Software; (d) engage in any activity that materially interferes with or disrupts the Software; (e) resell or sublicense the Software to third parties; or (f) access or use the Software for any unlawful purpose. You will comply with all applicable law in connection with your access to or use of the Software. - d. Support. Unless stated otherwise in the Order Form, during the applicable License Term of the Software or the Subscription Term of the Service, Defense Unicorns shall provide technical support to Customer in accordance with Defense Unicorns’ Service Level Agreement (“SLA”), set forth in Exhibit A of this Agreement. - 3. Terms of Use. Customer and Authorized Users agree to use Defense Unicorns Software and Services only in a manner that complies with all laws. Customer shall ensure that it and its Authorized Users operate any Software or Service in accordance with the information and warnings set forth in the published product materials, technical specifications, user manuals, maintenance guidelines, and support communications provided by Defense Unicorns from time to time. The Customer is responsible for procuring and managing all third-party software, hardware, and other necessary services and equipment at their own cost to implement and utilize the Software. The Customer must ensure that such equipment meet the requirements stated in the Order Form(s) or accompanying documentation. - 4. Intellectual Property. Customer agrees that all worldwide patent, copyright, and other Intellectual Property Rights in the Software and documentation, and all copies of the Software however made are the exclusive property of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. All Software is licensed to Customer, not sold. All rights not expressly granted to Customer in this Agreement are reserved by Defense Unicorns and its suppliers. There are no implied licenses under this Agreement. - 5. Service. During the Term, Customer may request Professional Services from Defense Unicorns for the implementation, configuration, and other related tasks for the Software. These Services may include deliverables and other assistance. The specific scope of the Services will be outlined in either the applicable Order Form or Statement of Work (“SOW”), both of which will be considered part of this Agreement. Each SOW will detail the Services to be performed, any accompanying materials or documentation to be provided by Defense Unicorns, and the expected delivery date(s) and associated Fees. The ownership of any Intellectual Property developed during the provision of Services by Defense Unicorns (alone or jointly with others) shall solely and exclusively belong to Defense Unicorns. Customer hereby assigns and agrees to assign to Defense Unicorns all rights, title, and interest in any such Intellectual Property developed during Services. - 6. Third-Party Software and Open-Source Software. Software may include third-party software, and open-source software (“OSS”), and such software is provided under separate license terms. To the best of Defense Unicorns’s information, knowledge and belief, the Software is free from third-party rights that would prevent Defense Unicorns from granting the license. Should third parties be entitled to and assert such rights, Defense Unicorns will, at its own expense, defend the Customer against the asserted third-party claims as set forth under Defense Unicorns’ indemnification obligations. - 7. Feedback. Customer may provide Defense Unicorns with any suggestions, comments, or other feedback regarding Software or Services (“Feedback”). Customer’s decision to provide Feedback is entirely voluntary. By providing Feedback, Customer assigns to Defense Unicorns all right, title, and interest (including any Intellectual Property Rights) that Customer may have in such Feedback and acknowledges that Defense Unicorns may use (or not use) any such Feedback in any manner and for any purpose, without compensation to Customer and without implying or creating any interest on Customer’s part in any of Defense Unicorns’ Software or Services that may be based on such Feedback. - 8. Publicity. Each party (“Grantor”) grants the other party (“Grantee”) a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, world-wide, fully paid-up, royalty free license to use, display, exhibit, distribute, broadcast, reproduce and copy the names and likeness of designated representatives, company name, company logo, trademark, or trade name provided by Grantor to Grantee solely for describing, promoting, publicizing, or marketing Customer’s use of the Software and Services under this Agreement. - 9. Warranty. During the term of this Agreement, Defense Unicorns warrants that the Software shall perform substantially in accordance with the then-current applicable documentation for a period of ninety (90) days. Additionally, Defense Unicorns guarantees that all Services provided to Customer will be done so in a professional and competent manner, adhering to standard industry practices. In the event of a breach of this warranty, Customer’s sole remedy shall be for Defense Unicorns to make commercially reasonable efforts to correct any non-conforming aspects of the Software at no additional cost to Customer. If, despite these efforts, Defense Unicorns is unable to rectify the issue, Defense Unicorns reserve the right to terminate this Agreement upon written notice to Customer. In such a case, any unused prepaid Fees paid by Customer for access to and use of the Software will be refunded following termination of the Agreement. This warranty is the exclusive remedy and sole liability of Defense Unicorns for any breach of the warranties set forth in this Agreement. - 10. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT AND THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY LAW, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED HEREUNDER ARE “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. DEFENSE UNICORNS HEREBY EXCLUDES AND DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUALITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, RESULTS, EFFORTS, OR QUIET ENJOYMENT. THERE IS NO WARRANTY THAT PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ARE ERROR-FREE OR WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ACHIEVE ANY PARTICULAR RESULT. CUSTOMER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE PERFORMANCE OR USE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES AND ANY THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING RELIANCE ON ANY INFORMATION GENERATED THROUGH USE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. TO THE EXTENT THAT DEFENSE UNICORNS MAY NOT DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY AS A MATTER OF LAW, THE SCOPE AND DURATION OF SUCH WARRANTY SHALL BE THE MINIMUM PERMITTED UNDER SUCH LAW. - 11. Term and Termination. a. Term. This Agreement is effective upon the Customer’s purchase of Software or Services and shall continue until terminated pursuant to this Section (Term and Termination). - b. Termination for Cause. If Customer breaches this Agreement (including by failing to pay amounts owed when due) Defense Unicorns may, in addition to its other rights and remedies hereunder or at law: (i) terminate this Agreement for cause in its entirety, or (ii) terminate for cause one or more Order Forms, Subscriptions, Software packages, or Statements of Work related to the breach only. Customer may terminate this Agreement in its entirety for cause upon thirty (30) days written notice to Defense Unicorns of a material breach of this Agreement if such breach remains uncured at the expiration of such period. - c. Suspension. Defense Unicorns may suspend or limit Customer’s use of Software or Services as it deems reasonably necessary to prevent, investigate, or otherwise address any suspected breach of this Agreement. - d. Effect of Termination. i. Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement for any reason: (i) all Order Forms, Subscriptions, Software packages subject to a License Term, and SOWs shall immediately terminate; (ii) Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services; (iii) if Defense Unicorns terminates this Agreement for cause, then the licenses granted under this Agreement shall immediately terminate and Customer shall immediately stop using the applicable Software; (iv) Customer shall not under any circumstances be entitled to a refund of any Fees paid, except as otherwise expressly provided herein; and (v) any section of this Agreement which by its nature should survive termination shall so survive. - ii. Upon expiration or termination of a Subscription for any reason, Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services under the Subscription and Customer will promptly pay Fees and other charges accruing under the Subscription prior to expiration or termination. Customer acknowledges that some features of Software may not operate upon termination of any SaaS-based Services. Additionally, if Defense Unicorns terminates a Subscription for cause, then Customer must pay to Defense Unicorns all unpaid Fees that were to have been paid for the remainder of the Subscription Term had it not been terminated, in addition to Defense Unicorns’ other rights and remedies. - iii. Upon expiration or termination of a Software License for any reason, (i) all rights and other licenses granted to Customer under that Software package shall terminate and Customer shall immediately stop using (and Defense Unicorns may disable) Software that was provisioned thereunder; and (ii) Customer will promptly pay all Fees and other charges accruing under the Software license prior to expiration or termination. Additionally, if Defense Unicorns terminates an Software License for cause, then Customer must pay to Defense Unicorns all unpaid Fees that were to have been paid for the remainder of the applicable License Term had it not terminated, in addition to Defense Unicorns’ other rights and remedies. - iv. Upon expiration or termination of an SOW for any reason, Defense Unicorns will have no further obligation to provide Services under the SOW (including any delivery due after termination, whether or not such delivery is in process at the time of expiration or termination) and Customer shall promptly pay Defense Unicorns a portion of the Fees that would have been due upon future attainment of delivery or other milestones (“Goals”) computed on a prorated basis equal to the number of days that Defense Unicorns worked towards the attainment of such Goals prior to termination relative to the number of days specified in the SOW for attainment of Goals. - e. Renewals. Unless otherwise specified on the Order Form, upon expiration of the initial period, the License Term or Subscription Term will automatically renew for successive one year renewal periods at (a) the Fees applicable to each such License Term or Subscription Term on the original Order Form (subject to an increase of up to 4% or the increase in the Consumer Price Index over the immediately preceding 12 months, at Defense Unicorns’ discretion), or (b) the revised annual list price, if such a revision is provided by Defense Unicorns no less than sixty (60) days prior to expiration of the applicable Term. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Term shall not automatically renew if either party gives notice to the other of its intention not to renew at least thirty (30) days before the expiration of the applicable Term. - 12. Indemnification and Limitation of Liability. a. Indemnification by Defense Unicorns. Defense Unicorns, at its expense, will defend and settle any claim to the extent alleging that Customer’s use Software or Services, as permitted under this Agreement, directly infringes any U.S. patent or U.S. copyright, and will pay any settlement or judgment to the extent based on such allegation, including payment of reasonable attorney fees and other costs of defense. In order to make a claim under this Section, Customer must: (i) promptly notify Defense Unicorns in writing of the claim; (ii) grant Defense Unicorns sole control of the defense and settlement of the claim; and (iii) provide Defense Unicorns with all assistance, information and authority reasonably required for the defense and settlement of the claim. If in Defense Unicorns’ reasonable judgment a claim appears likely, then Defense Unicorns may at its own election and expense: (i) procure for Customer the right to continue using the Software; (ii) modify Software or Services to avoid the claim, including by removing allegedly infringing functionality; or (iii) if procurement of the right of continued use or modifications to avoid infringement are not feasible without materially impairing the operation of Software or Services, either: (A) terminate any affected Subscription and refund on a pro rata basis Fees (if any) prepaid for same based on the portion of the License Term remaining at the time of such termination; and/or (B) terminate Customer’s right to use any affected Software and refund any unused prepaid Fees paid by Customer for access to and use of the Software. Defense Unicorns will have no obligation under this Section defend or settle any claim to the extent: (i) the alleged infringement is based upon the combination of Software and Services with third-party products, services, or data; (ii) based upon modifications of Software and Services made at the request of Customer or by a party other than Defense Unicorns; (iii) misuse of the Software and Services; or (iv) Customer’s failure to use the most recent version of Software provided by Defense Unicorns. THE REMEDY IN THIS SECTION IS DEFENSE UNICORNS’ SOLE OBLIGATION AND LIABILITY AND CUSTOMER’S EXCLUSIVE REMEDY RELATING TO ANY CLAIM OR ALLEGATION AGAINST CUSTOMER OR OTHERS ASSERTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT OR MISAPPROPRIATION. - b. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. NEITHER PARTY NOR ANY OF ITS LICENSORS OR INFORMATION PROVIDERS AND OTHER SUPPLIERS AND THEIR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONSULTANTS, AFFILIATES, AND AGENTS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO THE OTHER PARTY OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OR FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, USE, OR DATA, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR CUSTOMER’S USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR ARISING UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF THE FIRST PARTY IS AWARE OF OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NEITHER PARTY SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE OTHER PARTY’S USE OF ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES UNDER A TRIAL PERIOD OR ON ANY OTHER TRIAL OR EVALUATION BASIS, INCLUDING ANY BETA SERVICES OR FEATURES. - c. SUBJECT TO THE FOREGOING, BUT EXCLUDING EACH PARTY’S INDEMNITY OBLIGATIONS HEREUNDER, EACH PARTY’S AGGREGATE, CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO THE OTHER PARTY OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMING THROUGH THE OTHER PARTY FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING UNDER OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE OTHER PARTY’S USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR ARISING UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE AMOUNTS PAID BY CUSTOMER TO DEFENSE UNICORNS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE FIRST EVENT THAT GIVES RISE TO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES CLAIMED BY EITHER PARTY. THE EXISTENCE OF MULTIPLE CLAIMS SHALL NOT EXPAND THESE LIMITS. CUSTOMER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE FEES CHARGED BY DEFENSE UNICORNS REFLECT THE ALLOCATION OF RISK SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT AND THAT DEFENSE UNICORNS WOULD NOT ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT THESE LIMITATIONS ON ITS LIABILITY. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS APPLY, EVEN IF THE REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. - 13. Confidentiality. a. Confidential Information. A party receiving Confidential Information (“Receiving Party”) from the other party (“Disclosing Party”) will: (a) protect the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information using the same degree of care, and in no event less that reasonable care, that it uses to protect its own Confidential Information, (b) use the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information for only for purposes consistent with this Agreement, and (c) limit access to Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information to its employees, contractors, or agents who are involved in performing this Agreement, have a “need to know,” and have signed a non-disclosure agreement with terms no less restrictive than those herein. Customer shall treat the terms of this Agreement as Confidential Information of Defense Unicorns. - b. Compelled Disclosure. If the Receiving Party is compelled to disclose by law, order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, regulatory agency, or other governmental body (each, an “Order”) any Confidential Information, the Receiving Party will, if legally permissible, promptly give the Disclosing Party written notice of the Order and reasonable assistance to the Disclosing Party prior to disclosure to provide the Disclosing Party with the opportunity to interpose any and all objections it may have to disclosure of the information required by the Order and seek a protective order or other appropriate relief. - c. Equitable Relief. Each Party recognizes that the Confidential Information is unique and that no adequate remedy at law exists for the breach of any provision of this Section. Any such breach would cause irreparable harm to the Disclosing Party, allowing the Receiving Party or third parties to unfairly compete. Therefore, in case of such breach or threat thereof, the Disclosing Party has the right to seek injunctive and other equitable relief, without the need to prove damages, in addition to any legal remedies available. - 14. General. a. Choice of Law and Venue. This Agreement, the rights and obligations of the parties hereto, and any claims or disputes relating thereto, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware without regard to its choice of law provisions. Each of the parties agrees that any dispute between the parties shall be resolved only in the courts of the State of Delaware or the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and the appellate courts having jurisdiction of appeals in such courts. The United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply to this Agreement. - b. Modification. Except for any changes to the SLA, any modification to this Agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties. - c. Construction. In constructing the terms of this Agreement, no presumption shall operate in favor of or against any party because of its counsel’s role in drafting the terms and provisions hereof. In the case of a Separate Agreement being executed by the Customer with Defense Unicorns for the Software or Services, the following conditions will apply: (i) additional terms stated in the Separate Agreement will also be in effect, and (ii) in the event of any inconsistency between the terms of the Separate Agreement and this Agreement, the Separate Agreement will take precedence. The order of precedence in construction of this Agreement shall be (in order of most controlling to least controlling): (a) the applicable Order Form or SOW; (b) the main body of this Agreement and any amendments; and (c) Defense Unicorns Service Level Agreement. - d. Export Control. Both Parties must adhere to all relevant laws and regulations regarding the import, re-import, export, and re-export of goods, including but not limited to the Export Administration Regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and country-specific economic sanctions programs enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It is the sole responsibility of Customer to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, particularly in regards to the use of the Software and the transfer and processing of Customer’s content, as well as providing such content to Authorized Users. - e. U.S. Government Rights. All software and any technical data contained in the Software or results of the Services are “commercial items,” as defined in 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212. The use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the Software or results of the Services, and any data relating thereto or derived therefrom, is restricted in accordance with 48 C.F.R. §12.211, 48 C.F.R. §12.212, 48 C.F.R. §227.7102-2, and 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. This is in lieu of, and supersedes, any Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”), the Defense FAR Supplement (“DFARS”), or other agency supplemental clause or provision that addresses government rights in computer software or technical data. - f. Force Majeure. No party shall be liable or responsible to the other party, nor be deemed to have defaulted under or breached this Agreement, for any reasonable delay in fulfilling or performing any obligation under this Agreement (other than the obligation to pay money), where the delay or failure is directly caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, epidemics or pandemics, quarantines, sanctions and other government actions, war, terrorism, natural disasters, extreme adverse weather, systemic electrical, telecommunications, or other utility failure; technology attacks, and labor disputes. - g. Notice. Except as expressly otherwise provided herein, all notices shall be in writing and deemed delivered the earlier of: (a) actual receipt; (b) upon delivery by a nationally recognized overnight courier (receipt requested) to the receiving party’s address as specified herein or updated by written notice; or (c) when received via electronic communications as evidenced by either party’s contemporaneously created computer records. The parties’ addresses for notice are set forth above. Either party may change its address of record by giving the other ten (10) days’ notice. Any notices given by Customer to Defense Unicorns under this Agreement shall be given in writing and shall be delivered to the following address and/or email: Defense Unicorns, Inc. Attention: Legal Dept. 555 E Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 114 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 legal@defenseunicorns.com - h. Relationship Between the Parties. The parties are independent contractors. Neither party is the agent, partner, employee, fiduciary, or joint venturer of the other party under this Agreement. There are no third-party beneficiaries under this Agreement. - i. Remedies. Except as otherwise provided herein, the parties’ rights and remedies under this Agreement are cumulative and non-exclusive. No single right or remedy shall be exclusive of any other which is consistent with the former. Customer acknowledges that the Software and Services contain valuable trade secrets and proprietary information of Defense Unicorns and its suppliers, that any actual or threatened breach of this Agreement by Customer would constitute immediate, irreparable harm for which monetary damages would be an inadequate remedy, and that injunctive relief is an appropriate remedy for such breach. - j. Waivers. All waivers must be in writing. Any waiver or failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement on one occasion shall not be deemed a waiver of any other provision or of such provision on any other occasion. - k. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is held unenforceable by a court, such provision may be changed and interpreted by the court to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. - l. Assignment. Defense Unicorns may assign this Agreement, without restriction, upon notice to the Customer. Except as otherwise provided herein, Customer may not assign any of its rights or obligations hereunder, whether by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior express written consent of Defense Unicorns; provided, however, Customer may assign this Agreement in its entirety, together with all rights and obligations hereunder, to any party that is not an embargoed party in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets related to this Agreement, and Customer shall provide Defense Unicorns with prior written notice of such assignment. - m. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the final and entire agreement between the parties regarding the subject of this Agreement and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements, understandings, course of performance, and communications, whether written or oral. In no event shall any clauses, terms, or conditions of an Authorized User, such as U.S. Government, flow-down to Defense Unicorns, or into this Agreement, or otherwise be deemed to be included or apply to this Agreement, without Defense Unicorns’ prior and express written consent. - 15. Definitions. “Authorized Users” means (a) any individual or entity that directly or indirectly accesses or uses the Software through access authorized by Customer; or (b) employees and contractors working on behalf of and authorized by Customer. - “Confidential Information” means all nonpublic information disclosed by a party to the other party, whether orally or in writing, that is designated as “confidential” or that, given the nature of the information or circumstance surrounding its disclosure, should reasonably be understood to be confidential. Defense Unicorns’ Confidential Information includes nonpublic information relating to Defense Unicorns’ or its partners’ products or services, technology, customers, business plans, promotional or marketing activities, and financial information, third party information that Defense Unicorns is obligated to keep confidential, and the nature and content of any discussions or negotiations between the parties. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information does not include any information that: (a) is or becomes generally known to the public without breach of any confidentiality obligation, (b) was known to the receiving party prior to its disclosure by the disclosing party without breach of any confidentiality obligation, (c) is received from a third party free from, and without breach of, any confidentiality obligation or (d) was independently developed by the receiving party without reference to disclosing party’s Confidential Information. - “Customer” includes any entity that is owned, operated, or controlled by Customer (each, a “Customer Affiliate”). - “Fees” means the fees paid by Customer for Software or Services specified in an Order Form. - “Intellectual Property” means embodiments of any Intellectual Property Rights, whether in electronic, written or other media, including (a) works of authorship, (b) inventions, discoveries and improvements, (c) technical data, (d) user interfaces, test reports, bills of material, building instructions, lab notebooks, samples, tools, materials, and apparatuses, and (e) recordings, graphs, drawings, reports, analyses and other writings. - “Intellectual Property Rights” means all worldwide intellectual property rights, including rights in and to (a) patents and other governmental grants for the protection of inventions or industrial designs, (b) copyrights and moral rights, (c) trade secrets and know-how, (d) trademarks, trade names and service marks, (e) domain names, web addresses and other universal resource locator (URL) registrations, (f) rights of publicity, and (g) database rights. - “License Term” means, with respect to a Software package, the Term of that Software package, including (if applicable) the initial term and any renewal terms. - “Order Form” means a written ordering document, physically or electronically signed by both Customer and Defense Unicorns, which specifies Software packages, Services, and other entitlements purchased by Customer. - “Professional Services” means consulting and other professional services provided by Defense Unicorns for the implementation, configuration, and other related tasks for the Software under this Agreement, as specified in an Order Form or SOW. - “Services” means Professional Services, Support Services, or Training Services, as applicable. - “Software” means the software specified in an Order Form relating to this Agreement. - “Subscription Term” means, with respect to a particular Subscription, the term of that Subscription, including the initial specified term and any renewal terms. - “Subscription” means a limited-time, renewable entitlement for Customer to receive one or more Services, as specified in an Order Form. - “Support Services” means the support services provided by Defense Unicorns under this Agreement, as specified in an Order Form or SOW. - “Training Services” means in-person or remote product related training services provided by Defense Unicorns under this Agreement, as specified in an Order Form. - “Unique Environment Configuration” means an isolated, self-contained computing environment customized to meet specific use cases, user requirements, security standards, and/or system constraints, where the environment configuration parameters include custom infrastructure as code development, specific Authorization To Operate (“ATO”) documentation, and/or other custom support to enable operation of the Software in the computing environment. Defense Unicorns’ characterization of Customer’s various computing environment and their respective uniqueness for the purposes of determining the Unique Environment Configurations(s) shall be dispositive. ###### Exhibit A Defense Unicorns Service Level Agreement - 1. Definitions. a. “ATO Documentation” means Security Controls Traceability Matrix (“SCTM”) for technical controls of UDS Core, Software Bill of Material (“SBOM”), list of services and containers, Grype scans, network diagram, and other technical documents pertaining to UDS Core. - b. “Deployment Paradigm” means a declarative configuration of specific infrastructure resources, including but not limited to the Kubernetes distribution for container orchestration. - c. “Infrastructure” means the resources required to deploy the Unified Defense Stack (“UDS”) Core platform, including a Kubernetes distribution for container orchestration and other dependencies such as databases, object storage, networking, caching, roles and virtualization. - d. “Privileged Access” means the requisite authorization and credentials for Defense Unicorns support personnel to gain access to the representative production environment and complete deployment, testing, and operations as required. - e. “Representative Production Environment” means a non-production environment that has architectural parity (to the extent technically possible) with the target production environment, where the representative environment may be owned by Defense Unicorns or the Customer. - 2. General Support Services a. Applicability; Scope. During the License Term of a given Software, Defense Unicorns will respond to incidents, troubleshooting requests, questions and clarifications on features, documentation, deployments or otherwise provide assistance to the Customer with regard to such licensed Software (“General Support Services” or “GSS”). - b. Severity Level Definitions. Defense Unicorns uses the following levels to classify issues: i. Severity 1 – Critical: Software is unavailable or completely unusable. The situation halts Customer operations and no known workaround exists. - ii. Severity 2 – High: Software is functioning, but use is highly degraded or reduced and causing significant impact to operations. Key features may be unavailable or extremely slowed, with no known acceptable workaround. - iii. Severity 3 – Moderate: Software experiences non-critical disruption or loss of operational functionality. Functions are other than “normal,” but impact to Customer operations is manageable to low by using available workarounds. - iv. Severity 4 – Low: General questions or clarifications on features, documentation, and/or deployments. There is little to no impact on the operation of Customer environment. Software is still unaffected and work is not impeded, including by using available workarounds. - c. Response Times and Coverage. | ImpactFirst Response Time (FRT) SLA*Hours of Coverage**How to Submit | | Severity 4 – Low***48 HoursBusiness HoursEmail | | Severity 3 – Moderate***24 hoursBusiness HoursEmail | | Severity 2 – High4 hoursBusiness HoursEmail → Phone | | Severity 1 – Critical1 hour24 hours, 7 days a weekEmail → Phone | - d. Business Hours. SLA times listed are time frames in which the Customer can expect the first response from Defense Unicorns. Time should not be construed as “time-to-resolution.” ** The support team is available during regular business hours to assist with any calls. Calls received outside of these hours will be redirected to a mobile phone. We will do our best to answer and address the calls received outside of our regular business hours within the applicable FRT. *** For support requests at impact levels “Severity 3” and “Severity 4”, logged during non-business hours for, First Response Time commitments shall commence at the beginning of the next business day. | Time ZonesDaysSupport HoursExclusions | | Central Standard or Central Daylight Time (CST, CDT)Monday – Friday0700 – 1900US Federal Holidays | - e. Customer Responsibilities. Defense Unicorns’ support obligations are conditioned upon the following Customer Responsibilities: 1. Customer shall provide a description of the issue, steps taken by the Customer to resolve the issue, the Software being impacted, and Customer’s assessment of the Severity Level. 2. Customer shall respond to Defense Unicorns support communications in a timely manner. 3. The Customer shall limit the maximum number of individuals who can receive direct support from Defense Unicorns to five (5) individuals, and share the names and contact info of such identified individuals. - f. Contact Information. Customer shall send an email to support@defenseunicorns.com with a severity level, in accordance with the definitions set forth in this section, in the email subject line along with the description of the issue and a contact phone number to initiate triaging of the issue. In the event a follow-up phone call is warranted due to the Severity Level, a support Engineer, with the appropriate clearance level, will contact Customer in accordance with the response times provided herein. The account manager(s) will be included in any response to Severity Level 1 or 2 support requests. - g. Severity Level Determination. Defense Unicorns and Customer will make a joint determination of the severity level; however, if the Parties are unable to reach a joint determination on the severity level, Defense Unicorns’ reasonable determination will apply. - h. Changes to Services. Defense Unicorns reserves the right to modify the General Support Services at any time upon thirty (30) days written notice to Customer provided that Defense Unicorns shall not materially reduce or adversely diminish the service levels provided under this Agreement. Such notice may be provided by email or by posting the revised terms on Defense Unicorns’ website. Any change will be binding and effective thirty (30) days after publication of the change on Defense Unicorns’ website(s), or upon notification to Customer by email. - 3. Vulnerability Mitigation Support Services a. Applicability. For Customers whose purchased entitlement, as set forth in the applicable Order Form, include Vulnerability Remediation Support Services (“VRSS”), this section outlines the applicable support services. Each VRSS applies to specific instance of UDS software artifacts. Upon initial delivery of the UDS artifacts in a Customer’s private GitHub repository, the Customer will receive a Software Bill Of Materials (“SBOM”) and Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (“CVE”) scan results with vulnerability attestations. - b. Scope of Service. Defense Unicorns will make reasonable efforts to mitigate and remediate CVE that meet all the following criteria: i. Defense Unicorns’ scanners identify a CVE affecting a UDS artifact and the CVE is “new,” meaning it is identified in a subsequent scan and not been identified in the initial CVE scan results provided at the time of delivery of the UDS artifact; - ii. The CVE is scored critical or high according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (“CVSS”), Version 3; - iii. The CVE is independently fixable of any other bugs; and - iv. Either (x) there is an upstream release version available, which a credible and independent third party has verified fixes the CVE (i.e. the project maintainers have release notes or code commit message designating a fix to the CVE); or (y) an affected image can be rebuilt with updated compilers and/or libraries to remediate that CVE. - v. For new CVEs or major CVE events for which there is no upstream release version available that fixes the CVE, Defense Unicorns will make all reasonable efforts to produce and gain Customer concurrence on an acceptable mitigation plan. Upon availability of an upstream fix/patch for a qualifying CVE, Defense Unicorns will make all reasonable efforts to patch the CVE and make updated UDS artifacts available within the below specified timeframes. Defense Unicorns has no obligation beyond good faith mitigations and workarounds until an upstream fix becomes available. Defense Unicorns will make re-architecture and reconfiguration choices in good faith to limit dependencies at the platform layer, including by rebuilding images affected by CVEs to remediate where Defense Unicorns has largest configuration control. - c. Response Time; Time-to-Mitigate Timeline. i. Severity Scoring. Defense Unicorns will assign each CVE a severity score according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (“CVSS”) version 3, in accordance with the standards described at [Link: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss] https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss. | CVSS ScoreNotification MethodHours of Coverage*First Response Time (“FRT”)Time-To-Mitigate (“TTM”) | | 9.0. – 10.0 (Critical)RSS, Email, and/or Phone24 hours, 7 days a week24 Hours15 Days | | 7.0 – 8.9 (High)RSS, Email24 hours, 7 days a week36 Hours60 Days | | 6.9 – 0.0 (High)RSS, EmailBusiness Hours48 Hours90 Days | - The support team is available during regular working hours to assist with any calls. Calls received outside of these hours will be redirected to a mobile phone. We will do our best to answer and address the call. From time to time, Customer may request mitigation or remediation of a specific vulnerability that is not identified with Defense Unicorns’ scanners. In such instance, Defense Unicorns will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the Customer request, where any remediation or mitigation would be contingent on availability of an upstream fix/patch. d. Scanning Frequency. Defense Unicorns will provide Customer: (a) CVE results from new scans whenever a new UDS release is made available to Customer; and (b) updated UDS artifacts in the private repository of the Customer. - 4. UDS Environment Setup Services a. Applicability; Scope. Defense Unicorns will create and deliver UDS artifacts, subject to the Customer obligations and deployment environment assumptions as set for in this section. Defense Unicorns will: i. Deliver UDS Artifacts. Defense Unicorns will create secure and integrated UDS artifacts able to deploy the infrastructure, platform, and applications to the Customer’s mutually agreed upon target environment, where testing of such artifacts prior to production deployment will be undertaken in a Representative Production Environment if available. - ii. Support. Defense Unicorns will provide Customer detailed ATO Documentation and other documentation for the use of the UDS artifacts. Defense Unicorns will further provide support for outages and other production-level incidents in environments using UDS artifacts for the length of the License Term in accordance with the GSS. - iii. Vulnerability Management. Defense Unicorns will conduct vulnerability scanning, mitigation planning and implementation, and patching/remediation for the length of the License Term in accordance with services set forth in VRSS. - iv. Dedicated Account Management. Defense Unicorns will provide Customer a single point of contact as dedicated support. The contact will facilitate initial deployment and support issue resolution in accordance with the applicable General Support Services and VRSS. - b. Customer Obligations. Defense Unicorns’ ability and timeline to deliver UDS artifacts is contingent on the following Customer obligations and environment assumptions: i. Customer shall review all materials shared by Defense Unicorns, including the environment assumptions outlined below, by its business stakeholders, subject matter experts, and/or IT personnel, in a timely manner for gathering and implementing functional requirements. - ii. Customer is responsible for conducting any resource provisioning activities, as applicable, required for the creation of the UDS artifacts or initial deployment. - iii. Customer and its vendors must provision infrastructure account access, and authorize any required storage solutions, databases, internal admin users, and external users. - iv. Customer technical responsibilities may include providing (m) access to DNS server to configure domain entry; (n) TLS certs; (o) a sub domain and IP list; (p) identify and select a virtualization solution for object storage; (q) identify and select a database management solution; (r) acquire and make available custom resources such as GPUs (for AI workloads); (s) grant permissions for Defense Unicorns’ support engineers to access the Representative Production Environment; or grant authorization to Defense Unicorns to leverage an environment of its own; and (t) boundary routing and/or firewall rules. - v. Customer shall provide Defense Unicorns console access to a shared environment or approval for use of Defense Unicorns’ own environment to complete requisite testing prior to delivering the UDS artifacts and ATO Documentation. - vi. Defense Unicorns shall provide Customer materials and assumptions prior to delivery of UDS artifacts. Customer acknowledges these materials and assumptions may require Customer action to implement or authorize necessary access. The provided materials and assumptions include: (l) resources (compute/store) usage estimates; (m) estimated supported user count per product (along with estimated scalability); (n) storage class requirements for the cluster; (o) required [AWS] permissions and roles; (p) list of required storage buckets; (q) list of required databases; and (r) high level (generic) architecture diagram showing which applications need to communicate with storage solutions, databases, internal admin users and external users. - c. Training. Customer may purchase training services. The training includes the option of having at least one Defense Unicorns support engineer on-site for up to two days, with the possibility of remote training upon request. This support engineer can work alongside the Customer’s technical team during training. - d. Additional Services. The Company may require Customer to subscribe to additional service level support beyond the standard services outlined under GSS or VRSS should the Customer’s environment require such support. The Customer must enter into a separate Service agreement for such additional service level support to maintain their support levels as set forth in this Agreement. - e. Out of Scope. Applications deployed on UDS must have a container image and deployment manifest such as a Helm Chart. Application re-architecture shall not be considered part of any Application Environment Integration Software. --- ### AI is taking our jobs! Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/ai-is-taking-our-jobs/ I’ve been running small experiments over the past year or so to see if AI has made me obsolete yet or if it’s more breathless marketing hype. I’ve tried everything from “give me the regex for …” to “write an outline for a 30-minute presentation on …” with various outcomes, some surprising. A year ago, the results were unimpressive for anything beyond simple problems. Hallucinated dependencies and invalid syntax were the norm. I asked ChatGPT about [Link: https://medium.com/itrevolution/five-minute-devops-gitflow-best-practices-a6cd1265de24] when to use GitFlow, and it failed miserably. However, recent experiments with LLM-assisted development have convinced me that it’s time to modify my workflow. Am I afraid I’ll be replaced? No. I believe others will be, though. Before I explain why, I want to talk about an AI event I attended. Recently, I was invited to attend the first DevOps for GenAI Hackathon in NYC, a small event of about 60 people with teams of mostly strangers self-organized around the problems we voted to work on. John Willis and Patrick DuBois hosted the event. Patrick coined “DevOps” in 2008 when he created the first DevOpsDays event. John is a co-author of the DevOps Handbook and an early thought leader in the space. So, we had OG DevOps in the house. What does “DevOps for GenAI” mean? It definitely wasn’t about how to write YAML better. We wanted to test ideas for applying GenAI solutions to make our jobs easier. We had several interesting use cases proposed. One was to “Identify issues, root causes, and hypotheses during an incident.” I’ve spent too many hours awake doing that, so I was very interested. The team created a design proposal for how information could be ingested to train a model but didn’t have time to create a POC. The scope was just too big for the time we had. Still, I think AI-assisted ops will be a commodity product soon. It’s too big a pain point. The team I worked on focused on “Expert as a Service.” We wanted to train a model on documentation and training to make it more discoverable and useful. Documentation is an important tool unless no one uses it because it’s outdated or too hard to find. In a previous role, we used documentation extensively as L0 support for our internal developer platform — this allowed us to keep our support team lean; eight people to support 19,000. However, we frequently had to guide people to the relevant documentation. With our hack, we wanted to see how hard it would be to take a set of documentation and change discovery from “I’m searching for this information” into a conversation where a model could suggest solutions to problems. We started with a seed application that John and Patrick provided and documentation that I’m familiar with from [Link: https://dojoconsortium.org/docs/work-decomposition/] DojoConsortium.org. Everyone on my team was a developer, but none of us were great at Python. However, with a few prompts to ChatGPT, we had what we needed to scrape markdown from GitHub, break pages up by topic, and add the information to the model. After loading the documents, I asked a question teams frequently ask: “How big should a story be?” The result: Hmmm, that’s not what I wanted. I was looking for some guidance on a suggested max story duration, which I thought was in the documentation. I need to review the docs to see if the error is the docs or how we ingested the data. On the plus side, it did suggest a way to make stories smaller. This is why eating our own dog food is so important. After discussing the outcome vs. the expectation, our conversation focused on the development flow for this use case. “How do we get feedback to improve responses?”, “What does the pipeline look like as the information is updated?”, “How do we untrain obsolete information?”, “How can we measure the quality of responses?” etc. The tool is different, but the principles still apply. ##### Hackathon Takeaways and Lessons - It’s fun to mob with other engineers you’ve never worked with who are also professionals trying to solve problems, not 10x prima donnas. We all get to learn from each other and curse at computers together. - LLMs can make documentation and training relevant by making it more discoverable and by converting a keyword search into a conversation. It can cross-reference and return information from across the organization and can provide richer context or even find conflicting information. Imagine getting an automated alert about a compliance policy change that conflicts with another policy. There are so many possibilities. - Implementing a simple hack was easier than I imagined. Yes, we had a seed, but the amount of code in the seed was very small, less than 100 lines small. Most of the heavy lifting was done with [Link: https://www.langchain.com/] LangChain libraries and MongoDB as the vector database. Next, most of my learning will be how to classify the information for better indexing by the model. - It’s not magic. If you want an LLM that’s trained to your context, then you need observability to improve the information it returns. What questions are people asking? How accurate are the answers? As information is updated, how do you keep the model current and prevent it from providing obsolete information? - Consider the information lifecycle before throwing everything into the model. Our takeaway was that relatively static information, such as policies, training, procedures, etc., is a good fit, but rapidly changing or ephemeral information should be avoided. - Garbage In, Garbage Out. The model is never smarter than the people contributing the information to it, and it is only capable of making connections that may seem surprising sometimes. Again, nothing magic. ##### Broader Observations Afterward, I attended an industry dinner to talk about AI. I discovered that people are worried about the impact AI will have both socially and across the industry. One person was quite adamant about the need to remove bias from LLMs. It’s a valid concern but a fool’s errand. You cannot remove bias from an LLM or anything else humans create. How many tools do you know that just assume left-handed people don’t exist? Does your application recognize that color blindness exists? There’s bias in the code, bias in the material it is trained on, and bias in the people interpreting the output. The tools we create are never better than us. They are only reflections of us that can do some things faster than we typically can. The thing that does scare me, though, is how much trust I see people giving to information LLMs produce, more than if a human said it to them. This is terrifying to me. Instead of asking for the impossible, we should educate people to use critical thinking and be aware that bias will exist in everything we do. Another concern was that generative AI is just another blockchain bubble. I strongly disagree with this. Everyone was trying to shoehorn blockchain into everything because it was trendy. There are use cases where blockchain would have been valuable, but those use cases also required broad adoption in an information supply chain. LLMs have numerous use cases and can be localized to a single application or more general. I can think of several that would make daily work better right now, and I will be helping to implement those where I work. LLMs will become a required platform tool and not just for coding assistance. ##### Replacing Developers With AI Before attending the event, I tried a small experiment. I fed acceptance criteria into ChatGPT 4 and told it to give me a React application based on those testable behaviors. It did, and the application worked. It used a drag-and-drop library I’ve never used that would have required hours to learn. It wrote maintainable code I didn’t hate. I had a usable POC in less than 3 hours, starting from “I wonder if this will work?” Does this mean that developers can be replaced by someone writing user stories and running the generated code? The dream of so many people has been realized at last! No. Gen AI is a major win for developer platforms. It did the boring commodity coding part of the job for me and eliminated the need for me to context switch to learning a new library. However, development is more than typing code. I had to understand the problem I was solving and how to describe that problem in a testable way. It was like working in a higher-level language that allowed me to spend more time focusing on “what” than “how.” It takes more than “it behaves this way” to engineer large systems. Until we have self-aware machines that can understand engineering tradeoffs and can do the job of translating fuzzy ideas into testable outcomes, we will need software engineers. Of course, by the time we can do that, no human will be working anyway. I have one caveat to this. People who say that LLMs will make developers redundant are mostly wrong, but not entirely. Developers who think the job is about coding and that LeetCode problems will make them great developers are already replaceable. They are solving solved problems. The demand for developers who know that the job is about understanding the domain, solving hard problems for that domain, and understanding how to describe solutions in a testable way will grow. Skip LeetCode exercises, use LLMs for mundane chores, and learn how to become a domain expert in solving problems with software. LLMs are tools, that’s all. Better tools amplify the user’s skill level. If that skill level is poor, this tool will make that clear to everyone. As for the operational questions we had during the DevOps for GenAI Hackathon, I don’t have answers for any of these yet. I’m still learning. I have some ideas, but they need to be tested. We need good patterns to emerge and be discussed broadly because these tools will change how we work. If you have answers or even just ideas, contact me. Let’s learn together. Many thanks to John and Patrick for hosting this event. ###### Resources - [Link: https://github.com/jedi4ever/learning-llms-and-genai-for-dev-sec-ops] Learning LLMs and GenAI for Dev,Sec,Ops — Patrick DuBois’ learning path - [Link: https://martinfowler.com/articles/2023-chatgpt-xu-hao.html] An example of LLM prompting for programming — Martin Fowler’s Blog --- ### Spire 71 at the Anduril 250 Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/defense-unicorns-joins-the-spire-71-car-for-the-anduril-250/ For the first time, a national-level race will be held on an active military installation, as part of the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary. A milestone that represents generations of service, sacrifice, and operational excellence, and we will be there to celebrate the strength of this nation alongside the men and women who defend it. What is being celebrated is not just history. This is a team sport that is the evolution of how we operate, compete, and win in increasingly complex environments. At the Anduril 250, Defense Unicorns is proud to partner with the Spire 71 car and driver Michael McDowell. But this is not about putting a logo on a car. It is about aligning with a mindset. Racing at this level demands precision, discipline, and trust in the systems and a team behind you. The driver is visible, but performance is always a team effort. Built, tested, and executed under pressure. That is exactly how mission software should operate. Michael McDowell and the Spire 71 team represent the kind of consistency and resilience that matter when the stakes are high. The ability to perform when conditions change. To adapt in real time. To keep moving forward when there is no room for error. That is a mindset we recognize. And it is why we are showing up. From Track to Tactical Edge High-speed competition is one of the purest tests of engineering, coordination, and execution under pressure. Every system matters. Every decision compounds. And when something breaks, you don’t get weeks to fix it. You get seconds. That sounds a lot like the environments we build for every day. The same principles that win races are the ones that define mission success: - Systems that are secure and resilient by default - Infrastructure that can adapt and operate anywhere - Teams that can move fast without breaking what matters At Defense Unicorns, this is exactly what we deliver with Unified Defense Stack (UDS). UDS is an airgap native platform built to bring software anywhere the mission takes you. From cloud to on-prem to the tactical edge to space. It is portable, secure, and designed for the realities of modern warfare. Because in real-world operations, there is no “retry later.” Speed is a Capability Speed is often misunderstood. It is not just how fast you move. It is how fast you can adapt, recover, and continue operating under pressure. On the track, speed without control leads to failure. In mission environments, speed without security does the same. Controlled mission-ready speed is what we have built. The Bottom Line Our participation is a signal that the same mindset required to win on the track is the one required to win in contested environments, and a reminder that when performance matters, the platform behind the mission matters even more. Defense Unicorns was founded by veterans, for warfighters. In just five years, UDS has been deployed across 79 military systems, supporting 419 mission capabilities spanning every branch of the Armed Forces. Follow Defense Unicorns on LinkedIn for the latest updates on the Spire 71 car – look for Doug! --- ### I'm Too Smart to Make Mistakes Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/im-too-smart-to-make-mistakes/ I find joy in platform engineering because the mission is challenging and it helps people: “Make it harder to make mistakes and easier to deliver.” These two things are often at odds, which is why it’s called “platform engineering” instead of “tool assembly.” When I discuss ways to make it harder to make mistakes, I often get feedback from people who are obviously much smarter than me because they simply don’t make mistakes. Here are some real life examples of these very smart people. ##### Pre-commit Hooks are Toxic A while ago, I was on Twitter looking for recommended patterns for automatically creating git pre-commit hooks using Make so that new contributors have some minimum quality guardrails in place. There are some good NPM tools for this, but Make is popular where I work, and I wanted a “hard to skip” solution. Within minutes of asking for help, an “experienced” developer accused me of being toxic, not showing trust, and that it would be an unforgivable invasion to inject pre-commit hooks automatically. Instead, they just make sure they don’t make the kinds of mistakes I’m trying to prevent. I’m very trusting. I trust that I can make mistakes, and I trust that other people can, too. I also know it takes longer to fix mistakes sent to the CI server than to fix them after the pre-commit checks block me from pushing them. Good pipeline design tries to reject changes that will block the pipeline as close to the source as possible. It’s not micromanaging to help people detect issues early. ##### You Don’t Understand Operations I made a statement online one day that no one should ever log into production except in extreme ‘break glass” emergencies that get escalated very high. My opinion in this is based on all of the problems I and others have caused by bypassing all controls to “just fix things.” It turns out that I’m probably just incompetent. I quickly had an expert explaining to me all of the amazing diagnostic command line tools that were created in the ’90s and early 2000s at Sun Microsystems and how their very existence proved me wrong. Besides, all I had to do was not make mistakes, like the time a coworker deleted all of the inventory for a customer distribution center or the time I almost wiped all of the binaries from a system with a small typo. The person who “corrected” me claimed to be an expert in security while seeming not to understand that “insider threat” is vulnerability #1. Anyone can make mistakes, and if we are logging into production to fix something urgent, we are under stress. We are more likely to make mistakes. We need to make changes through pipelines, not through SSH. ##### When You’re Good Enough, You Can Cut Corners We were talking about the proper way to deliver changes safely when someone chimed in that if you’re smart enough and understood the risks, it was OK to cut corners on quality and safety. Apparently, the guardrails are only there to protect less skilled people. I wonder if they would feel comfortable flying with a very smart pilot who felt that way. “Well, that mechanical issue put us 30 minutes behind, so let’s make up some time. We don’t need to waste time going through the checklist. We know what to do.” If you understand the risks of riding a motorcycle without a helmet, feel free. If it goes wrong, you’re not harming anyone else. If you understand the risks of riding that same motorcycle in heavy traffic at 100 MPH, you’re putting other people at risk, and you’re criminally negligent. You have the right to add risk without permission only if you own the software you’re writing. Doing otherwise is malpractice because it puts your coworkers and the company’s goals at risk. Grow up. ##### Conway’s Law Isn’t What is a scientific law? A scientific law describes an observed phenomenon. In 1968, Melvin Conway published a paper called “ [Link: https://www.melconway.com/Home/Committees_Paper.html] How Do Committees Invent?” The central thesis, as summarized by Conway, is, > “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.” While the effect may not be as strong as gravity, it’s an observable effect. People would claim gravity isn’t a law if they only lived in microgravity and didn’t pay attention. During a conversation about how we’d leveraged Conway’s Law and used the “reverse Conway maneuver” to improve system architecture, several people claimed it wasn’t a law because there were no peer-reviewed papers on it or that it didn’t exist at all. However, one person, obviously the smartest, said that all you needed to do was be aware of the effect and then not allow it to harm your architecture. “There’s no need to reorganize teams at all.” Brilliant. I could have applied this as a general rule for my daily life if only it had been explained to me this way. The same goes for running with scissors. I just need to be aware that they will stab me if I trip while running with them and then simply not trip! Easy! Making it harder to make mistakes or harder to create bleed over and inappropriate coupling in systems means we don’t need to spend as much energy ensuring those things don’t happen and can focus more on real work. ##### Tests Are For Bad Developers This is a story related to me by a close friend. One of the very senior engineers in their area explained why testing software is a waste of time. “I just don’t write defective software.” Brilliant! I wish I’d thought of that years ago. Think of the time I would have saved on support calls! If you’re too smart to write tests or too smart to need the value they provide to the less intelligent, then you’re too smart for this job. ##### Stop Hiring Uneducated Experts Every one of the people in the examples above had very senior engineering positions. They got those positions either because their constant heroics were rewarded or because they talked a big game very confidently and we not around anymore when reality struck. Never hire someone too smart to make mistakes. If you have someone working with you who believes they are, make sure they don’t work on anything important. --- ### Review Board Dramatic Theater Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/review-board-dramatic-theater/ Occasionally, I see well-written, well-meaning, but misguided advice that inspires me to respond with, “Oh God! No! Don’t do that!” This happened recently when I saw an article about how to do Architecture Review Boards (ARBs) correctly, and the conclusion wasn’t “Don’t use review boards.” This resulted in conversations about the value of ARBs, Change Approval Boards (CABs), and the emotional attachment many have for them. Let’s discuss their intended purpose and goals, why they are ineffective at accomplishing them, and how we can accomplish them more effectively. Tl;dr: Don’t fall for the theatrics of approval boards. Build it into the process. If you feel out of control, Move closer to the work. ##### Change Approval Boards > “A CAB not only approves changes within a company’s IT landscape but also helps with assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating risk for a company.” — [Link: https://www.atlassian.com/itsm/change-management/change-advisory-board] Atlassian Bless your heart, Atlassian. We finally got you to fix your [Link: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow] GitFlow training. Imagine if we could fix the rest. A CAB is a recurring meeting where changes are brought to be approved/rejected. None of the change board members are involved in making the change, and, depending on the organization’s size, they may not even be aware of the reason for the change. I’ve attended many CABs over the years with scopes ranging from only a few teams to every team in the organization (yes, hundreds of people in a change meeting every morning at 8:30 am). The workflow is inevitably the same: - The team ensures that a change is deliverable. - The team prepares the documentation for the change’s purpose, scope, etc. - The team waits for the next change meeting. - At the meeting, the team represents the change and assures the CAB that everything will be fine. - If the CAB doesn’t like the answers or isn’t happy with the way the paperwork is filled out, the change is rejected and sent back for improvement. - GOTO 1 Step 5 is interesting. I’ve seen changes rejected because the previous change from another team broke something, so the CAB board wanted every other team to be REALLY sure. People are emotional creatures. Rejecting changes due to minor paperwork issues isn’t hyperbole. I’ve seen it. Others have reported the same. That means the team will present a large change at the next meeting. Risk and change set size are tightly coupled. Let’s review some of a CAB’s stated goals and apply a testing approach. Does a meeting best meet the goals? ###### Calculate the risks and consequences of potential changes Based on what information? Your best-case scenario as a CAB member is that my team spends the morning developing a deliverable change and the afternoon prepping the paperwork. This way, you are presented with a small enough change that you might be able to get into some of the details during your meeting. Of course, it’s unlikely that my team is the only team needing to deploy something, so hopefully, it’ll be a long enough meeting for team in the area to finish presenting. The reality is that the transaction cost of preparing for the CAB’s dramatic theater is too high for that, and we will avoid doing it very often. So, we’ll probably only do it at the end of the sprint, and you’ll be presented with several completed features that the business expects to receive now. There is no possible way for you to achieve this goal with a manual review process of a batch that large. Why are we developing something without understanding the risks? This calculation should have happened before development began. If we believed a change had more than the usual risk, we should have designed the mitigation for that into the change. You cannot “inspect in” lower risk just as you cannot “inspect in” quality. Larger batches of work are more likely to cause incidents. By creating an approval meeting for risk mitigation, you’ve created a process that’s designed to increase delivery risk. ###### Review requests for change and evaluate their impact against available resources How? With what data in the paperwork? Let’s assume you see a snapshot number about the system resource requirements of the change and can make a judgment call during the meeting that it’s too high; then what? Naturally, you tell the team to make changes to improve it. Again, we are trying to “inspect in” quality at the end. Why are we not testing for this on every commit as part of the delivery pipeline? If we have known resource constraints, we create tests for those and see our trendlines against those constraints while we work to avoid the rework of completed features. Optimize for business value, not your ITSM training. ###### Produce comprehensive change-related documentation What documentation? Surely not product documentation because the teams are better equipped to do that. Documentation for auditors? The best you can do is show them that a meeting occurred. How does that keep us safer? There is no way for a meeting to do more than rubber stamp compliance because the CAB members lack the data on how the work was done. If they have the data, they don’t need the meeting. This should be part of the development process and in the form of updated architectural diagrams and decisions, automated release notes, and any required product documentation. As for documentation for auditors, that should be instrumented and come from the platform logs, not meeting notes. ###### Ensure company-wide understanding of changes To what end? If everyone in the company needs to know about a change, then the worst possible time is just before it’s implemented. I assure you no one who isn’t directly impacted is paying attention because they are focused on preparing their changes for your meeting. Instead, reduce the coupling, be transparent with roadmaps, talk about new features coming out, and celebrate after they are delivered and you begin seeing value from them. ###### Implement change management software and facilitate training This is what developer platforms are for. Platform engineering is about making it difficult to make mistakes and easy to deliver change at the same time. The platform should contain the controls so that the development process becomes compliant. Approve the process, not the changes that result. ###### Non-destructive CABs? I have spoken to people with a CAB that I’d consider effective. There’s a scheduled meeting, but you only attend if you do not have a CAB-certified delivery pipeline or have a recent history of breaking things. The CAB audits the pipelines for quality, security, and compliance. The meeting is the pain you want to avoid, and they make it painful on purpose so that you are incentivized to fix your problems. This is what good looks like. ##### Architecture Review Boards > “The Architecture Review Board (ARB) serves as a governance body ensuring IT initiatives align with Ecosystem Architecture and ultimately align with MIT IT goals, strategies, and objectives.” — [Link: https://kb.mit.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=155261497] MIT You create this review board if you have bored enterprise architects who don’t want to get their hands dirty. Effective EAs go where they are needed; they do not sit on a review board and have teams seek their blessing. Here are some of the goals MIT lists in its ARB documents. I’ve reordered them into things the EA team should do as a team, things they should provide other teams as a service, and things they should not do. ###### EA Team Should… > “Establish architecture baseline and develop and maintain target architecture.“ Yes, they should set some baseline standards. However, those should not be so comprehensive that they prevent teams from applying patterns that aren’t documented, and they should review the impact of their recommendations, not fire and forget. > “Establish and promote architecture best practices.“ I’d use “good” and not “best” here, but training people to make better decisions is far more valuable than training them that only the EAs get the final word. > “Identify new technologies.“ Absolutely. Be looking ahead and bring in better ideas from outside. ###### EA Team Should Help With… > “Plan, design, and implement an efficient, effective, and comprehensive architecture for Infrastructure and Application.“ This should be done in collaboration with the teams doing the work. They should work with the teams as decisions are made so that they have the context of the decision and can help formulate the final decision. Shift quality left. > “Improve quality “ They can certainly help with this by training on patterns, teaching people how to separate domains correctly, working with management on better team structures to make better architecture easier to achieve, etc. However, they can’t do this in an ARB meeting. They need to work for a living to do this. ###### EA Team Should Not… > “Lead architecture review process“ A competent architect knows you don’t wait for a building to be built to determine if it’s been done correctly. With software, it’s even more critical that we make quality and governance part of the workflow and not a review process because review processes increase the size of delivered work and the risk of failure. ##### Arguments Review Board Apologists Use The following are direct quotes, not strawmen. > “The problems with your proposed approach begin to emerge in multi-billion dollar companies, in highly regulated industries, and when the planned changes have upstream/downstream/cross-cutting impacts.” My recommendations come from years of working with good EAs at a Fortune 1. I wonder why processes that scale well for $600B companies would not scale to companies two orders of magnitude smaller? There must be some unique problem with being that small, which I’m unaware of. As for regulated environments, do you trust a review board to ensure you’re meeting your controls? Perhaps you’re unaware of how easy it is to sidestep those controls if the tooling doesn’t enforce them. You must also trust manual testing and only use “Oops, we got hacked!” for security. You probably need a Review Board Review Board (RBRB) to review the CAB and ARB decisions before allowing them to proceed. Please read [Link: https://itrevolution.com/product/investments-unlimited/] Investments Unlimited. It’s a fictionalized version of real things real people are doing to solve this problem in FinTech. > “Not every change needs to be reviewed. Only the big changes.” As I said, it’s dramatic theater, not an effective quality or compliance process. If we don’t use the same process to deliver all changes, then we are skipping steps that we feel are important for some changes based on how we feel about this particular change. It’s all feelings, and feelings don’t keep us safe. Let’s ignore the fact that you cannot use inspection at the end to “assure” anything and discuss other ways this is broken. - Transaction cost: If it’s too expensive to perform one of our quality gates for a low-risk change and we have the option to skip it, then we will skip it for a marginal change because of delivery pressure. - Incident management: If it’s too slow or cannot be performed in an emergency, we use less safe methods to resolve an incident. We should use our safest methods for every change, including hotfixes. - Ship of Theseus: How many tiny changes equate to a big change? If we ignore good practices for the small changes, does that make us safer? ##### Use Engineering, Not Dramatic Theater I remember the long and painful process of getting a security review to enable my first production delivery of a new product and asking Security when I would need the next one. > “In two years or if you make a major change.” This is another example of dramatic theater by people who don’t understand the work they are tasked with securing. With the next commit, we could cause an unintentional security issue. Oh well. They didn’t care about security beyond it being a checkbox; why should I? The application underwent significant changes after that, but we never made a major change, so it was probably fine. “Shift left” and “build quality in” are not buzzwords. If you care about building things correctly, delivering useful solutions, keeping them secure, and keeping them in compliance with regulations, then focus on how things are built and how to put the right guardrails in place to make it easy for every code change to meet those goals. Teach, help, and provide tooling. Don’t create meetings for “visibility” or “governance.” If you feel out of control, move closer to the work. --- ### Warhacker: Build the Solutions Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/warhacker-dont-just-talk-about-problems-build-the-solutions/ There are plenty of DOW conferences where people gather to talk about problems, get fired up, and then do nothing. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/warhacker/] Warhacker is not one of them. Warhacker exists for a simple reason: Real mission problems deserve real progress. Not panel discussions repeating the obvious. Not feel-good innovation doodles that get left behind on whiteboards. We need actual working solutions that move forward. ##### What is Warhacker? Warhacker is an opportunity to collaboratively solve real mission problems for the U.S. military. It brings together operators, engineers, mission owners, and industry partners into the same room with one goal: Take a real problem and leave with a working prototype. Before the event, Warhacker applicants submit mission challenges: Problems that are blocking progress right now. Warhackers collaborate and build a focused Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Not someday. Not after a contract. Right there. ##### Why This Works At Defense Unicorns, we already know this model works because we do it internally. We regularly run focused, multi-day, internal hackathons (we call them “Dash 🦄 Days”) where small teams build real capabilities that go on to become production-grade solutions. Our simplified edge-delivery capabilities are a perfect example. What started as a question at a hackathon ignited a two-day sprint to build a prototype, which grew into our ability to [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/defense-unicorns-demonstrates-key-enabler-for-continuous-software-delivery-on-the-f-22/] rapidly deliver software to military aircraft. Warhacker takes that same energy and opens it up to all our mission heroes. Now it is not just internal teams. It is the broader ecosystem further changing the DOW. ##### Built With the Right People in the Room One of the biggest failure points in government and defense innovation is fragmentation. The people who understand the problem are separated from the people who can build the solution. Builders and operators are separated by 1) acquisitions and 2) authorizations. Warhacker addresses this by building software solutions on the [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/platform/uds-platform/] UDS platform to deliver a demonstrable, mission-ready solution that accelerates ATO timelines and streamlines acquisition by providing something real, not just an RFI response. You get: - Defense Unicorns engineers actively building alongside you - Industry partners contributing domain expertise - Mission owners validating in real time This is not a handoff model. It is a collaboration model. ##### From Prototype to Deployment Let’s be clear. The goal is not to magically finish absolutely everything in a couple of days. The goal is to leave with: - A working prototype - A shared understanding of the solution - A minimum viable product (MVP) you can show, and that can be iterated and improved on. This is where the UDS platform becomes critical. Because what gets built at Warhacker is not just a demo. It is built with the Mission in mind from day one. Working with our UDS platform, the solutions built will be: - Secure by default, ATO-ready out of the box - Portable with Zarf, deployable anywhere the mission demands, from cloud to edge - Open and integrated with Pepr (no need to worry about integration layers) You are not leaving with a science project. You are leaving with something that’s ready for mission environments. ##### Why It’s Worth Your Time If you are used to traditional events, Warhacker will certainly be different. There are no passive attendees here. You show up to contribute. You show up to build. You show up to solve something that matters. And in return, you get: - Real progress on a real problem - Direct access to engineers who can help you build it - Stronger relationships across the ecosystem - Momentum that carries forward after the event ends - Visibility of your problem and solution to industry leaders, including to our panel of esteemed judges. That last part matters the most. Because the real value of Warhacker is not what happens during the event. It is what happens after. ##### The Bottom Line Warhacker is about turning intent into capability. It is about compressing months of coordination into days of focused execution. And most importantly, it is about proving that when you put the right people in the room with the right platform, we can make software a strategic deterrent. If you have a problem worth solving, this is where you bring it. [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/warhacker/#warhacker-form] Join us at Warhacker – apply here. --- ### Austen Bryan: Warfighter-Owned Software Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/when-warfighters-control-their-own-software-a-conversation-with-austen-bryan/ Austen Bryan is Defense Unicorns’ chief strategy and product officer. He came to the company straight from active duty; a Skillbridge success story who’s held just about every role on his way up. We sat down with him to talk about where the product is headed and why he can’t stop saying the word “fleets.” ##### Product in the Federal Space Austen didn’t know product management was a career field until he was deep in the Department of War’s software factory movement. He was an engineer by trade, and he found the spot where he could contribute: one foot in the customer’s world, one foot in engineering. Building product for the federal space works differently than commercial. You might have one customer, but that customer has a thousand asset configurations across different operational environments. A solution that works for all of them has to be a real product, not a bespoke build. And when you scale that across the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Army, the similarities are closer than you’d expect. The engineering challenge of making one thing fit all three is what keeps it interesting. ##### The Summer of Fleet This is where Austen lights up. The defense landscape is moving toward fewer people and more assets in the field. UDS Fleet is built for that reality. It’s a full lifecycle experience for deploying and operating software, from packaging to sustainment, that puts control directly in the hands of mission operators. No engineer in the loop. It’s a soldier, a sailor, a marine, an airman, a guardian who handles it all on their own. The fundamental shift isn’t just the technology. It’s who it’s built for. Today’s operational environments can’t support the expensive contracts and specialized labor categories that work inside the continental United States. UDS Fleet makes the mission operator the user, not the engineer. The thing that blows Austen’s mind: pilots can now update the software on their own F-16s and F-22s. That’s his answer when people ask what Defense Unicorns does. It’s a good one. But it’s not just aircraft. As Austen likes to say, everything that flies, floats, and rolls can use UDS Fleet. ##### Software Alone Isn’t Enough The product vision doesn’t stop at deployment pipelines. AI brings real capability to the field, but it faces the same logistical wall software did for the last 20 years, which is getting it to where it needs to be. Improving the software delivery side has revealed the next bottleneck. Large language models and small language models alike need data at the edge to drive tighter feedback loops and real-time adjustments. The full vision for Unified Defense Stack (UDS) is software and data working together to support decisions at the point of action. That means building an entirely new domain of expertise: data engineering, edge inference, enterprise-to-fleet data pipelines. It’s a big lift from a human capital perspective. But that’s the direction UDS has to go. ##### How He Got Here Austen’s path to Defense Unicorns started with a cold email. In 2018, struggling to stand up a software capability at Lackland Air Force Base, he stumbled across a survival guide written by Jeff McCoy, Matt Houston, and Rob Slaughter. He emailed them. Rob invited him to Colorado Springs. Three years later, Austen left active duty and joined the company. The pitch that stuck: We can work on the same problem set, but we get to choose the team. In the military, everyone rotates every two to four years. Continuity disappears. At Defense Unicorns, you get to keep the people, and that makes all the difference. ##### One Last Thing Austen is from Nebraska. He eats his corn typewriter style. There is, apparently, no other acceptable answer. ##### Watch the Full Video --- ### You're Probably Solving the Wrong Problem Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/youre-probably-solving-the-wrong-problem/ So much effort is wasted in the software industry on “agile transformation” initiatives and arguments about frameworks and methodologies. The reason is pretty mundane: people have created an industry providing stock answers to people who don’t know what questions to ask. The problem is that most of the answers are useless or even damaging because they are based on “I learned this in my certification class” or “This solution worked once in an entirely different context.” Even the good answers can appear suspect if the question isn’t understood. If I tell you the answer is 42, but you don’t know the question… We need to ask the right questions to filter the useful answers from those based on faith and dogma. Step one is understanding the problem we need to solve. ##### Supply Chain 101 I worked on supply chain software for the first two decades of my career. The main job of a supply chain system is to manage inventory and optimize how that inventory flows. The same thinking applies to building an efficient software supply chain. Whether you’re delivering physical goods or code, excess inventory represents waste. Inventory is never a good thing because you’re spending money to handle and store aging products. As it ages, it becomes less valuable. It will also likely require more handling. Anytime we handle inventory, we incur additional costs and risk damaging the product. To optimize our supply chain, we want to balance intake and demand as closely as possible to minimize inventory. We also want to minimize touchpoints between creation and delivery. An example of this is Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing, where components arrive at the factory as close to when they will be used as possible. To make that possible requires removing friction and uncertainty from the process of creating and delivering those components. When building software, we work within an information supply chain. More specifically, we operate a software supply chain made up of proposed work, undelivered code, feedback loops, and validation steps. Understanding this system is essential to improving outcomes. All of the above concepts apply. ##### Understand The Supply Chain The first step in optimizing our software supply chain is understanding software development. I know that sounds basic, but it’s amazing how many people think software development is just coding and shipping features. This narrow view creates dysfunction that directly harms the software supply chain process—leading to inventory bloat, missed needs, and costly rework. Fundamentally, software development is about identifying a need and creating new capabilities to fulfill that need. Developing new capabilities always means overcoming uncertainty. A common mistake is believing that we can remove uncertainty if we spend enough time defining all the work to be done. However, when we do this, we are growing an inventory of unknowns. - Will this capability fit the need? - Have we identified the need correctly? The more we work to perfect our plan, the more uncertainty we create. This is the perfect way to [Link: https://medium.com/defense-unicorns/5-minute-devops-the-three-wrongs-6c660f1287e7] spend money and effort without generating value. The alternative? We need to minimize the amount of detailed planning we do before getting feedback. Yes, we need a plan, but we must understand that the plan will probably change. We need to ship something small that can give us information about our plan, measure the impact, and adjust our plan instead of polishing it until we believe it’s perfect. It isn’t. We also want to keep our inventory of undelivered code changes low. Not only do they represent delayed feedback on our ability to fulfill the need, but they also represent unidentified defects. Optimizing our quality processes to eliminate handoffs and reduce processing time is critical to improving outcomes because it allows us to lower inventory levels. How quickly and efficiently we can close this loop directly impacts the investment in time and resources required to solve the problem and, ultimately, the delivered value. We can improve our ability to do this using the same principles in our software supply chain as we would for use in physical supply chains. ##### Minimize touch points With physical inventory, every time a human touches it, there is cost and risk of damage. The same applies to software. Having a backlog of work means we must keep reviewing the backlog for accuracy, duplication, and relevance as time goes on. The larger the backlog, the more effort this requires. How many times have you seen long backlogs of refined stories? Simply by existing, they add cost to our process. Also, I’ve never seen a backlog where every story resulted in a code change. Once we begin executing against the backlog, we need to execute in a way that minimizes human touches after coding. In a previous role, I helped teams learn [Link: https://continuousdelivery.com/] continuous delivery. Step one was to map their current process. Here’s a real-life example of a bad software supply chain. Because of the functional silos and lack of teamwork between the product owner, developers, and QA, there is information degradation happening at every step in the process with long wait times and extensive rework. Note that the QA team’s test suite found issues 60% of the time, but only 25% were due to coding errors. The remaining were due to test data setup issues or the testing team misunderstanding the requirements. However, a failure triage meeting between the development and test team leads was required to determine why the test failed. If they disagreed on who had the correct requirements, they had to schedule a meeting with the product owner. It commonly required two days of waiting to get that meeting. To fix this, we reduce the touch points. - Bring the PO, developers, and QA together to define the acceptance tests before coding begins. This ensures everyone has a shared understanding of exactly how the feature should function. - Eliminate the independent testing team so that all required tests are implemented during development to eliminate the wait for testing. - Eliminate the manual testing. Developers implement test automation during development and automate all validations required to certify that an artifact can be delivered to remove variability from testing and delivering. - Eliminate the duplicate code review. Implement continuous integration so that very small changes are reviewed and integrated several times per day. The review should either be done synchronously or while coding with paired programming. We move all human activity to the front of the process, remove the handoffs, and automate everything downstream of development. ##### Quality control Remember that we are doing product development, not manufacturing. We can only pre-determine the quality of things we have already delivered. For everything else, we focus on rapid feedback. First, we ensure that all known quality issues have automation in place to ensure we do not cause regression by breaking working capabilities. We need this automation to be very fast. Then, we optimize for fast feedback from as close to the end-user as possible by streamlining our development processes to remove handoffs and wait times. In the example above, it took the team 1.5 days of actual activity to deliver a change after the feature was refined. However, it also required more than 17 days of waiting for handoffs. Therefore, getting feedback on new features took more than three weeks. By implementing only the suggested improvements, the team could remove nearly 50% of the time required to deliver on the happy path. However, the actual improvement is more than that because the improved communication would also reduce/remove the rework loops that double or triple some of the wait times. The impact of this is faster feedback with less effort and risk. ##### Efficient Inventory Management Do you know where your inventory is? Every place in the value stream where people wait for another process to begin is collecting inventory. The longer the wait, the larger the amount that collects and the higher the risk that it’s not valuable when delivered. Unlike physical goods, we cannot liquidate our inventory and partially recoup expenses. We either deliver it and see whether it’s valuable or not or let it age in our warehouse until it’s unlikely to be valuable. A frequently seen pattern is a team working on a long feature branch and then warehousing that code until another team is ready to integrate. Then priorities shift, and by the time the team returns to that code, it cannot be delivered because there has been too much drift in the code due to other changes. They also wasted the opportunity to have their feature running quietly and producing performance and stability information. We need to keep our inventory low. SHIP IT! ##### Responsiveness In physical supply chains, we design our distribution around meeting the customer’s needs. With software, we do the same. We design our development processes to enable us to respond to the unexpected. We practice delivering small changes frequently because it allows us to find and remove friction in our software supply chain. This, in turn, allows us to lower the cost of change so we can afford to run experiments. It also enables us to respond to emergencies quickly and confidently or exploit unexpected value from a delivered feature at the speed of relevance. ##### Continuous improvement We can measure the efficiency of our software supply chain, and we should. We can measure effectiveness, too, but that’s a trailing indicator, and without improving efficiency, we cannot improve effectiveness. By continuously improving efficiency, we increase our ability to innovate, both what we deliver and how we deliver it. - Track the total time from when work begins until it’s available to be used. - Focus on the kata of CI; integrate tested, non-breaking changes to the trunk at least daily. - Identify the issues that prevent the ability to deliver the latest change on demand and fix those. Improving your software supply chain is not about [Link: https://defenseunicorns.com/resources/im-too-smart-to-make-mistakes/] achieving perfection overnight; it’s about taking incremental steps to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and deliver value faster. Start by mapping your current processes, identifying the bottlenecks, and focusing on flow over storage. Remember, the sooner your ideas reach your users, the sooner you discover their true value. --- ### Rob Slaughter in Air & Space Forces Magazine Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/rob-slaughter-in-air-space-forces-magazine/ As the U.S. Air Force accelerates its transition to open mission systems and rapid software delivery across both next-generation and legacy aircraft, Defense Unicorns is helping make that vision operational. In a recent Air & Space Forces Magazine feature, Defense Unicorns CEO Dr. Rob Slaughter joined Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Lamontagne and other industry experts to discuss the importance of delivering software updates at the speed of relevance. The article highlights how the Air Force is working to reduce lengthy update cycles and enable more agile modernization across its fleet. Dr. Slaughter shared how UDS Fleet allows operators to manage and deploy software updates across dozens of aircraft and mission systems from a single device, helping sustain combat capability in distributed, disconnected environments. He also pointed to a recent demonstration in which Defense Unicorns successfully enabled software updates to an F-22 Open Mission Systems environment in minutes. Read the full article: [Link: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-faster-software-updates-more-aircraft/] https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-faster-software-updates-more-aircraft/ --- ### Rob Slaughter: ColoradoBiz Finalist Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/rob-slaughter-named-a-finalist-for-top-entrepreneur-by-coloradobiz/ We’re proud to share that Defense Unicorns co-founder and CEO Rob Slaughter has been named a top finalist for the ColoradoBiz Top Entrepreneur The recognition reflects an extraordinary journey, from serving 13 years in the U.S. Air Force to building a company that is transforming how software is delivered, deployed, and managed across the Department of War. Rob’s selection as a finalist recognizes not only his entrepreneurial leadership, but also the commitment of the entire Defense Unicorns team. Their work is making software a strategic deterrent for the United States and putting powerful, adaptable capabilities into the hands of America’s warfighters. Congratulations to Rob and all of this year’s finalists on this well-deserved recognition. [Link: https://coloradobiz.com/boulder-electra-top-entrepreneur-clean-ironmaking] Read the full article here. --- ### Rob Slaughter on MTS Live Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/rob-slaughter-on-mts-live-defense-software-deployment-ai-in-national-security-open-source-tech/ Defense Unicorns co-founder and CEO Rob Slaughter joined the MTS Podcast to discuss why delivering software to the U.S. military remains so difficult, and why mastering it is essential to national security. Drawing on his Air Force experience, Rob explains how secure, open-source infrastructure can bring mission-critical software and AI into classified, air-gapped, and edge environments. He also explores balancing speed with security, preparing for increasingly autonomous military systems, and realizing Defense Unicorns’ ambitious vision: enabling every U.S. military asset to receive software updates on demand. --- ### Rob Slaughter on TBPN - Live from Warhacker Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/rob-slaughter-on-tbpn-live-from-warhacker/ Defense Unicorns CEO Rob Slaughter joined TBPN live from Warhacker. He discussed the challenges of delivering modern software to military assets and shared how Defense Unicorns helps simplify this process through a comprehensive tech stack. He also praised the Department of War’s initiatives, such as hackathons, which foster collaboration between industry and military personnel, enabling real-time feedback and innovative solutions to complex defense challenges. --- ### Express-News: NASCAR Sponsorship Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/san-antonio-express-news-this-san-antonio-software-firm-is-sponsoring-a-nascar-team-in-a-june-race/ The [Link: https://www.linkedin.com/company/san-antonio-express-news/] San Antonio Express-News is covering our latest milestone: Defense Unicorns is partnering with Spire Motorsports and driver Michael McDowell for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Naval Base Coronado on June 21st. Defense. Technology. Racing. All in one place, and all in service of the warfighters who make our mission matter. [Link: https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/defense-unicorns-nascar-michael-mcdowell-22232461.php] Read the full article here. --- ### Andrew Greene Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/team/andrew-greene/ Andrew has spent his career engineering solutions for defense and national security. From SpaceCAMP to Platform One to Defense Unicorns, he has been at the center of modernizing DoW software delivery. Today, he ensures UDS continues to evolve as a product that truly serves the mission. --- ### Jeff McCoy Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/team/jeff-mccoy/ Jeff McCoy is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Defense Unicorns. He sets the company’s technical direction and product strategy for secure, mission-critical software, partnering with government and industry to advance modern software delivery and DevSecOps across the Department of Defense. A former active-duty Airman with 18+ years who later served as a senior civilian (NH-IV), Jeff led teams in SATCOM, RF transmission, communications planning, and network engineering, taught tactical cyber systems as a CCAF instructor, and helped launch Kessel Run, DDS Rogue Squadron, SpaceCAMP, and Platform One. At Defense Unicorns, he has led development of Zarf, Pepr, and the Unified Defense Stack (UDS) ecosystem. Zarf was donated to the OpenSSF and is now used worldwide in aircraft, submarines, space systems, and security screening systems. --- ### Rob Slaughter Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/team/rob-slaughter/ Rob founded Defense Unicorns after a career in the U.S. Air Force leading work in space vehicles, computer vision, and future capabilities. As Director of Platform One, he helped transform how the DoW builds and delivers software at scale. With a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics, Rob brings technical depth and mission experience to guide our vision and strategy. --- ### Navy Selects UDS for Shipboard Evaluation Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/u-s-navy-selects-defense-unicorns-to-advance-to-shipboard-deployment-phase-of-software-evaluation/ CHARLESTON, SC – The U.S. Navy has selected Defense Unicorns to advance to the next phase of evaluation under a Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic (NIWC LANT) Rapid Capabilities Cell Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). This phase transitions from lab-based to at-sea operational evaluations aboard naval vessels and shore facilities. The selection also follows the successful completion of the CANES Next Generation prototype OT in which Defense Unicorns demonstrated the ability of the Unified Defense Stack (UDS) to rapidly configure hardware and launch software. Those results validated the company’s approach to secure, airgap-native software delivery in shipboard environments and established the foundation for operational testing. Moving from lab-based evaluations to live ship deployments represents a significant step toward fleet-scale production. The afloat deployments, combined with ashore integration, will generate the operational data needed to inform long-term acquisition decisions. Defense Unicorns’ UDS powers the solution through two complementary products. UDS Enterprise provides a secure, standardized platform for deploying and managing software in air-gapped and disconnected environments. UDS Fleet enables infrastructure and cluster management across multiple deployed environments, giving Navy operators a unified capability to deliver and sustain software at scale. “Modernizing how the Navy delivers software to ships at sea requires rigorous operational validation,” said CDR Eric Shuey, APM Tactical Networks Technologies, PMW 160. “This evaluation phase is designed to produce the operational data needed to support sound, long-term fleet decisions.” “The Navy operates in some of the most demanding software delivery environments in the world,” said Rob Slaughter, co-founder and CEO of Defense Unicorns. “Ships are deployed for months, often disconnected, and the stakes are high. Our north star is simple. Sailors and other warfighters using modern software when and where they need it. This next phase puts us on that path.” The advancement positions UDS as a candidate for fleet-wide standardization as the Department of the Navy continues to accelerate software delivery to the warfighter. About Defense Unicorns Defense Unicorns is a veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. --- ### ZarfFest Thank You Source: https://defenseunicorns.com/zarffest-thank-you/ #### Thanks for your interest in ZarfFest! You’re on the list! We’ll let you know when it’s your turn to pickup a wristband. ###### we’re hiring! View our job openings ###### Explore our developers page ###### UDS Documentation ###### Cut the line and put Defense Unicorns to work today