09 October 2020

DOD awards $600M for 5G tests at military bases

'Dual-Use Opportunities"

The US Department of Defense has awarded $600 million to several well-known companies to begin the government’s 5G experimentation, including testing at five US military bases. Meanwhile, the US Space Development Agency has chosen four contractors to build the first-ever 28 data relay satellites. Now the search is on to find the best company to launch those satellites into space. RT America's Trinity Chavez reports.
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Projects will include piloting 5G-enabled augmented/virtual reality for mission planning and training, testing 5G-enabled Smart Warehouses, and evaluating 5G technologies to enhance distributed command and control.__________________________________________________________
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DOD Announces $600 Million for 5G Experimentation and Testing at Five Installations


OCT. 8, 2020
Today, the Department of Defense announced $600 million in awards for 5G experimentation and testing at five U.S. military test sites, representing the largest full-scale 5G tests for dual-use applications in the world. Each installation will partner military Services, industry leaders, and academic experts to advance the Department’s 5G capabilities. . .
“The Department of Defense is at the forefront of cutting edge 5G testing and experimentation, which will strengthen our Nation’s warfighting capabilities as well as U.S. economic competitiveness in this critical field. Through these test sites, the Department is leveraging its unique authorities to pursue bold innovation at a scale and scope unmatched anywhere else in the world. Importantly, today’s announcement demonstrates the Department’s commitment to exploring the vast potential applications and dual-use opportunities that can be built upon next-generation networks,” said Michael Kratsios, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. . . 
The bases were selected for their ability to provide streamlined access to spectrum bands and mature fiber and wireless infrastructure, support new or improved infrastructure requirements, and conduct controlled experimentation with dynamic spectrum sharing. Details on each base are listed below.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Washington – Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Training 
Naval Base San Diego (NBSD), California – 5G Smart Warehousing (Transshipment)
Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) Albany, Georgia – 5G Smart Warehousing (Vehicular)
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada – Distributed Command and Control
The objective of this effort is to develop a testbed for use of 5G technologies to aid in Air, Space, and Cyberspace lethality while enhancing command and control (C2) survivability.  Specifically, a 5G network will be employed to disaggregate and mobilize the existing C2 architectures in an agile combat employment scenario.
Hill Air Force Base, Utah – Dynamic Spectrum Utilization
This project addresses the challenge of enabling Air Force radars to dynamically share spectrum with 5G cellular services.  The project will develop sharing/coexistence system prototypes and evaluate their effectiveness with real-world, at-scale networks in controlled environments.  The objective of this effort is to develop effective methodologies to allow the sharing or coexistence between airborne radar systems and 5G cellular telephony systems in the 3.1 – 3.45 GHz band...
5G communications technology is a foundational enabler for all U.S. defense modernization programs, and vital to U.S. national and economic security.  
DoD’s efforts focus on large-scale experimentation and prototyping of dual-use 5G technology that will provide high speeds and quicker response times, connect many more wireless devices than current wireless technology, and enable leap-ahead capabilities for the U.S. military. 
Today’s announcement builds on DoD’s previously-announced 5G prototyping efforts and is part of a 5G development roadmap guided by the Department of Defense 5G Strategy.  
It represents the first tranche of awards on 5G experimentation and testing, with additional sites to be announced in the future. 

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