Second Front and Valarian partner for secure software deployment

Second Front and Valarian provide secure deployment methods for software in the world of defence and security. Together, the companies aim to not only speed up software deployment, but provide through-life security for it. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on February 11, 2026.

BLUF: 

• Valarian and Second Front Ltd (the UK arm of Second Front) are combining their capabilities under a new strategic partnership.
• The partnership is a response to growing demand for secure infrastructure and software deployment that is as sovereign as possible. 

So what is this partnership about? Well, the February 10 press release explains that the partnership will combine Second Front’s Game Warden with Valarian’s ACRA sovereign enclave architecture. “Our combined approach ensures mission software can reach the field quickly without compromising data, communications, or compliance. Essentially, we’re making sovereign clouds and edge compute even more secure,” a spokesperson for Second Front told Calibre Defence. 

They are aiming to address software deployment timeframes, which is a frequent challenge for defence customers. “In defence and across government, installing software is a slow and highly controlled process. It begins with identifying the need for a new application, which then must pass multiple internal approval boards to ensure it aligns with architectural, security, operational, and compliance policies,” the spokesperson explained. 

“Once approved, the software undergoes extensive reconfiguration to be compatible with MOD infrastructure and networks, followed by security reviews,” they added. 

The deployment process doesn’t end there, however. “After these checks, the software must receive formal accreditation, such as through Secure by Design and JSP453, which involves detailed documentation, audits and sometimes physical inspections.” If it passes all of this, the software gets deployed in a sandbox environment before it is finally manually deployed to the devices that need it.

How Second Front and Valarian can meet this need?

That process is lengthy for a reason. A lot of software is built with open source code, i.e., code that is made public and built upon by many. A software developer might then take that code and use it for their new application. Or, an intelligence service might deliberately penetrate a software application and insert their own malicious code to spy on other states. 

For example, the Australian Defence Force reportedly removed an Israeli battle management system from its vehicles in 2021. There were concerns that backdoors had been left in the code, which could be used for espionage. The Israeli company has denied this, but it mostly serves as an example of how careful armed forces have to be. 

So, Second Front and Valarian essentially provide a complete infrastructure that replaces the process described above and gives the software a secure enclave to live in. Game Warden is designed to automate software assurance, deployment, and monitoring. Meanwhile, ACRA from Valarian provides secure, compartmentalised infrastructure that isolates sensitive operations. This ensures communications and systems remain protected even if other parts of the network are compromised.

In a nutshell, the strategic partnership could offer users a route to faster, more secure software deployment. And this could be from the intelligence staff in MoD Main Building, through to command posts on the frontline. 

Calibre comment: The role of software in innovation

There is some conviction within defence that innovation breeds success. Which is certainly true when fighting a war, but it is more difficult to assess during peace. However, what is clear is that a lot of the defence ecosystem is software defined. This makes innovation through software updates a viable route for defence to change what it does. 

This could be something like the Android Tactical Awareness Kit, an app built by the US Air Force to provide frontline troops with digital maps and situational awareness. Or it could be a new form of training simulator, designed to improve realism without the costs of flying, for example. 

Normally, a person would be able to buy and access these systems on the same day. If they didn’t work, that person would be able to get a bug fix or buy another system in the same timeframe. Alternatively, if it were a bespoke product, the software developers would fix the bug and deploy it potentially in days. In contrast, the British MoD, and others, would retrigger the process described above. 

So, software can play an interesting and valuable role in innovation, where speed of iteration is seen as important. But the current deployment routes put the brakes on that process. Therefore, the Second Front and Valarian partnership could help speed this up, providing the kind of deployment cycles that are common outside of defence. 

If you want more of an understanding of the role that software plays in defence, maybe have a look at these articles. It really helps us out. Thank you:

• Calibre interview: Daz Preuss, CybExer 
• Hivemind: ST Engineering and Shield AI partner on autonomous flight – Calibre Defence 
• Is the British Army’s LEAPP ready for integrated air defence? 
• DSEI UK 2025: Closing the loop on defence procurement