Following up on their partnership last spring to advance digital capabilities for the battlespace, Northrop Grumman [NOC] and AT&T [T] on Wednesday along with Fujitsu said they have demonstrated the use of a commercial 5G network with open-standards to transmit data and video a warfighting scenario.
“This is a critical step in building the digital battle network to support multi-domain operations,” the companies said.
The recent demonstration took place in Northrop Grumman’s new 5G lab and included third-party radios, the company’s tactical data links, AT&T’s private 5G network and Fujitsu’s Open Radio Access Network.
“This critical capability will bring together the high speeds, low latency and cybersecurity protections of private 5G networks with the flexibility and scalability of commercial 5G capabilities,” Ben Davies, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Networked Information Solutions Division, said in a statement. “Enabling 5G capability four our warfighters across domains will help realize a connected battlespace for the joint future.”
Northrop Grumman completed its San Diego-based 5G lab in late 2022. The lab allows the company “to speed up integration timelines with commercial partners and allows us to rapidly test and mature our technology to provide a best-of-breed industry solution for the DoD,” a company spokeswoman told Defense Daily.
The demonstration, the first in lab, involved the transmission of target tracks using the radios and was completed last November. Another demonstration is planned and the company will have more to say soon, the spokeswoman said.
“Our focus has been working with the commercial industry to develop best-of-breed solutions to build the digital battle network,” she said, adding that “the key here is that our 5G solution has open, software-defined architectures to easily integrate with other third-party industry providers and across different platforms, sensors and effectors.”
Lockheed Martin [LMT] for nearly two years has been working with commercial companies to conduct demonstrations around 5G communications to meet future warfighter needs for Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). Last September the company demonstrated the ability to rapidly transmit data on the health of a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter through AT&T’s 5G private cellular network and its own 5G.MIL network to help with improved operations and maintenance of the aircraft.
JADC2 is the Defense Department’s concept for an interconnected battlespace across all warfighting domains into a single network to dramatically accelerate decision-making and speed the sensor-to-shooter loop.