In this high-stakes environment, compliance is not optional — it’s the key to safety, performance, and success. Discover why and how to ensure compliance in your defense projects through concrete examples and proven solutions.
Why is compliance critical in defense?
Compliance with standards in the defense sector goes far beyond regulatory requirements. It helps to:
- Protection of sensitive data and ensures technological sovereignty
- Reduction of operational and legal risks
- Guarantee of the reliability and security of critical systems
- Access to international markets through recognized certifications
Key standards for your defense projects
DO-178C: The benchmark for embedded software certification
DO-178C is a key certification standard for embedded software in aerospace.
In defense projects involving avionics systems, this standard ensures that safety-critical software meets defined assurance levels. Compliance is essential to demonstrate software quality and reliability, ensuring flight and mission safety.
Traceability is a cornerstone: every requirement must be implemented, tested, and verified.
Main objectives: Demonstrate that design and implementation requirements are correctly defined and validated, with full test coverage for each level of criticality.
DO-254: The standars for airbone electronic hardware
DO-254 complements DO-178C for hardware components. It applies to the development of airborne electronic hardware and requires full lifecycle management and documentation to validate critical components.
AS9100:
Quality management for aerospace and defense
AS9100 (EN 9100 in Europe) is a widely adopted quality management system standard for aerospace, defense, and space sectors. It extends ISO 9001 with additional requirements tailored to defense industry needs.
Data sovereignty: Includes measures for protecting intellectual property and ensuring compliance with national security requirements.
Risk management: Emphasizes proactive risk control throughout the project lifecycle.
Continuous improvement: Promotes the detection and correction of quality gaps to minimize costly errors.
Regulatory compliance and sensitive data protection: the role of ITAR
The U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) governs the export of defense-related technologies.
For companies engaged in international defense projects, ITAR compliance is critical to avoid heavy penalties.
- Export control: Companies developing or exporting military technologies — including software — must prevent unauthorized access.
- Legal risk: Non-compliance can result in substantial fines and restricted market access.
With the implementation of CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification), non-compliant subcontractors can lose contracts and face significant financial loss.
Traceability and data sovereignty in defense: key challenges and solutions
- Data traceability :Traceability ensures full visibility into every action or change across a project — from decisions and code changes to testing. In defense, this transparency is essential for maintaining continuous compliance and enabling audits at any stage.
- Data sovereignty : Data sovereignty is a particularly sensitive issue in defense. Companies must both protect data from external threats and ensure it is hosted in countries with laws compatible with national security. This may involve using secure cloud or on-premise infrastructures meeting strict security standards.
Quick checklist: are you compliant?
✅ Are all your requirements traced and validated?
☑️ Is your data hosted in a country compliant with national sovereignty rules?
☑️ Are your processes always auditable?
Solutions to ensure compliance and security
- Requirements traceability Tools like Tuleap enable fine-grained traceability of requirements and tests — critical for DO-178C or AS9100 compliance. They link requirements to validation activities, ensuring full transparency.
- Data protection Encryption, network segmentation, and secure data storage solutions help meet sovereignty and ITAR compliance. This includes hosting data on secure, controlled infrastructure.
- Audit automation Automated tools can simplify compliance audits by generating detailed project reports and highlighting gaps against applicable standards.
ALM : The foundation for compliance, traceability, and performance
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is key for defense and aerospace companies developing complex embedded systems.
By implementing an ALM platform like Tuleap, organizations can centralize all development processes, requirements, and data — from design to maintenance.
ALM consolidates requirements, documents, and processes into a single platform, improving collaboration, version control, and cross-functional coordination.
Bidirectional traceability
Traçabilité bidirectionnelle
With bidirectional traceability, each requirement is linked to its implementation (code, test, validation), and each artifact is traced back to its source. This ensures:
- Effective change management with full impact visibility
- Full coverage of compliance requirements (DO-178C, ARP 4754A, AS9100)
- Audit readiness for internal and external reviews
Risk management and continuous improvement
ALM platforms include risk management and change tracking features, helping teams anticipate impacts, document decisions, and stay compliant as requirements evolve.
V-Model, Agile, and ALM
ALM supports both traditional V-models and Agile methods. Standards like DO-178C do not mandate specific methodologies, as long as traceability and documentation are maintained.
Why adopt ALM early in the project?
Integrating ALM from the start helps ensure compliance, software quality, and risk control.
Adjusting processes later is possible but may result in higher costs and delays during audits or certifications.
Conclusion
Compliance with standards like DO-178C, AS9100, and ITAR — along with rigorous traceability and data sovereignty — is essential in defense projects.
By adopting robust tools and structured processes, organizations can ensure compliance, strengthen security, and improve project quality.
These practices help minimize risk, protect critical information, and secure success in environments where every detail counts.