Defense Department awards $600M for 5G testing at military bases

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded $600 million for 5G experimentation and testing at five U.S. military test sites.

The test sites include Hill Air Force Base in Utah; Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington; Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia; Naval Base San Diego in California; and Nellis Air Force Base Las Vegas in Nevada. The bases were selected for several reasons: 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.

“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,” Michael Kratsios, acting under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said.

The projects at these sites 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.

This initiative represents the largest full-scale 5G tests for dual-use applications in the world. This is the first tranche of awards on 5G experimentation and testing, with additional sites to be announced in the future.