U.S. Air Force Partners With SIMBA Chain To Tokenize Supply Chain Budget On Blockchain

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has again partnered with blockchain-as-a-service firm SIMBA Chain to create a system for tracking and monitoring the air force's movement of funds, supply chain and management.

This is the seventh time SIMBA Chain is winning a contract with the air service branch, the company said in a statement Thursday.

Named Digital Blockchain Budgeting Accountability and Tracking (DiBaT), the project involves the tokenization of every dollar within USAF's supply chain budget and the recording of fund movement across billing centers, purchasing departments and suppliers.

DiBaT leverages SIMBA Blocks' custom multi-chain blockchain platform to keep track of and audit funds in a safe, zero-trust, tamper-proof blockchain, enabling USAF management to see where money is being used and how it is presently positioned within the allocation and payment system.

Additionally, it will enhance supply chain visibility to demonstrate readiness and transparency in the materials being acquired.

"DoD's budgeting process can create mismatched incentives for military departments and their field commands, leading to the less efficient execution of strategic goals. DiBaT will bring greater transparency to the actual expenditure of resources, identifying execution vs. intent mismatches. Even better, it will not alter any current budget flexibility," said Jeff Curtis, Director of Defense and Supply Chain at SIMBA Chain.

Besides increasing trust and providing audit-like mapping of dollars via tokenized spending, SIMBA Chain's solution will "rapidly determine if parts are coming from or being made in China in an earthquake zone, identify if a supplier no longer manufactures a part, detect if parts are coming from an area where human capital is being exploited, and identify potential high-risk supplies," the company claimed.

This will enable portfolio-based management of DoD acquisition programs, enhance digital budgets to include real-time tracking of actual costs, and establish Free Cash Flow incentives while documenting savings by allowing commanders or departments to use a portion for immediate priorities, among other benefits, the company said.

SIMBA Chain is a platform that auto-generates APIs that support both public and private blockchains and is designed for any developer to easily adopt through drag-and-drop smart-contract building. The company secured a $1.5 million contract with the USAF in 2020 and several expansions in 2021.