Continuing to build bridges to the commercial telecommunications sector to advance wireless battlespace connectivity, Lockheed Martin [LMT] has demonstrated Nokia’s military-grade 5G private network base station with its hybrid base station (HBS) for transmission of military data across a public 5G network managed by Verizon [VZ].
The companies began the technology integration in late 2024 and demonstrated the 5G.MIL capabilities in January at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas, marking the first time the company has integrated and tested mobile telecommunications supplied by a top tier original equipment manufacturer, in this case, Finland’s Nokia.
Lockheed Martin on Sunday said the demonstration included connectivity of its HBS to hybrid user equipment that allows users to switch between commercial 5G and tactical LPx waveforms—a covert capability to avoid snooping and jamming—“while maintaining uninterrupted user application sessions on an Android user device.”
The companies will continue their collaboration, including permanently establishing Nokia’s 5G-base node at Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL Experimental Network site in Orlando, Fla., where Verizon already has its network technology. Having Nokia’s technology in at the Experimental Network site will enable “demonstration in a wide variety of military applications and DoD use cases including unmanned aircraft system integration, ground mobile applications, and military sensors and communications systems,” Lockheed Martin said.
Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL effort is part of company head Jim Taiclet’s 21st Century Warfighting to help the military services create a secure digital network across sensors, platforms, sensors, and decisionmakers for all-domain warfare. The company in 2021 began working with Verizon to advance networking solutions for the U.S. military (Defense Daily, Nov. 2, 2021).
“5G.MIL integrations like this strategic relationship with Nokia and Verizon will help ensure data is seamlessly routed throughout the battlespace in ways that make future mission success possible,” John Clark, senior vice president of technology and strategic innovation at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.