Ultra I&C's Maxam Tactical undergoing SECAN cryptographic device approval

Ultra I&C's Maxam Tactical cryptographic device. (Ultra I&C)

British company Ultra Intelligence & Communications' (Ultra I&C's) Maxam Tactical device is currently undergoing NATO's Communications and Information Systems Security and Evaluation Agency (SECAN) cryptographic device approval, Josh Baines, datalinks product manager at Ultra I&C, told Janes on 6 February at the Danish Defence Annual Conference (DDAC) 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Maxam Tactical is expected to pass NATO certification in 2027, according to Baines. He said that the device had been present “at various interoperability symposiums such as the TSVCIS [Tactical Secure Voice Cryptographic Interoperability Specification] symposium, which is held between lots of Five Eyes [United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand] and close partner nations that utilise the TSVCIS interoperability standards. The device was the most tested at the event last year. We've succeeded at all of the tests”.

“One of the issues, historically, with cryptographic devices is that they are quite hard to maintain and get prepared. They are quite hard to service, update, etc. That's one of the key areas that we focused on in the development of this in collaboration with the UK government,” Baines said.

“We are currently greenlit to export the device to Five Eyes and partner nations. It can realistically support the Five Eyes demand to replace the KY-100 devices in operation today,” Baines explained.

The KY-100 ANDVT AIRTERM is a single channel tactical terminal for airborne, vehicular, shipboard, submarine, landing craft application of secure voice and data communications over wireline and narrowband or wideband high-frequency (HF)/very-high-frequency (VHF)/ultra-high-frequency (UHF)/line-of-sight (LOS)/demand assigned multiple access (DAMA)/extremely high-frequency (EHF) radio channels, according to Janes C4ISR & Mission Systems: Joint & Common Equipment.