JULY/AUGUST AIRFORCEMAG.COMspectrum that will work well in urban areas, interiors, and
over short distances, but will break down over longer dis-
tances. 5G implementations will also use spectrum beneath
6 GHz, a band largely controlled by the Defense Department
in the US. at disconnect is a critical piece of the ongoing
controversy pitting the US against China, and in particular,
China’s 5G technology champion, Huawei.
CONNECTING BASES
e Air Force, meanwhile, is forging ahead as an early
adopter of commercial 5G technology. e service is teaming
with 5G wireless network providers to install commercial
network infrastructure on 10 bases now, with more to come.
It plans to use that wireless connectivity to support secure
mission applications.
e Air Force’s nearest-term project enlists Verizon to bring
5G infrastructure to:
■ (^) Moody AFB, Ga.
■ (^) Robins AFB, Ga.
■ (^) Dobbins ARB, Ga.
■ (^) Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.
■ (^) JB Charleston, S.C.
■ (^) Shaw AFB, S.C.
■ (^) McEntire JNGB, S.C.
■ (^) Tyndall AFB, Fla.
■ (^) Arnold AFB, Tenn.
■ (^) Grissom ARB, Ind.
By clustering small and large bases in each agreement, the
Air Force is enticing companies to take on smaller popula-
tions that might otherwise be less attractive from a business
perspective.
Verizon is now in the early stages of planning where anten-
nas and other hardware should go. At the same time, Verizon
and AT&T are each pursuing parallel e orts in building out
5G networks in a variety of US cities. In a sense, then, these
initial Air Force forays treat military bases like self-contained
metropolitan areas.
“Our base areas, we tell them, are pretty large—it’s not
just on the ight line, it’s a big, huge circle,” Frank Koniecz-
ny, the Air Force’s chief technology o cer, said in a May 20
interview. Coverage is focused on where the network will be
used, however. “We didn’t want to go from fence line to fence
line,” he said. “We concentrated on where the populace was
and where they would be working.”
Konieczny said the rollout costs the Air Force nothing.
Verizon will install the 5G infrastructure on or near Air Force
property under no-fee leases stretching up to 25 years. “It’s
not a contract for money, it’s a contract that says you can
use our facilities, our ground and buildings, to put on your
devices,” he said. “We’re not paying for any infrastructure
modications to support the commercial side. ey are paying
for it themselves.”
Verizon beat out AT&T for the rst group of bases, Koniec-
zny said, and both are expected to compete for the next set,
which stretch from California to North Dakota. A local wireless
consortium could also vie for the Northwest cluster this sum-
mer, he said. Overseas bases aren’t yet part of the initiative.
Some lawmakers are already backing the e ort: e Senate
Armed Services Committee’s mark of the 2020 defense policy
bill o ers funding to start work at two locations.
As the Air Force connects more and more of its systems to
a wireless network, it must also bake in greater security. 5G
supports software-dened security features that are richer
than today’s 4G networks, but that does not make the net-
works invulnerable.
“A security standard should be established for connections
to/through 5G networks, such as all tra c must be encrypted
using DOD encryption standards and separated into separate
secure network slices for transmission,” Konieczny said.
e Pentagon is likewise considering how to deal with
network tra c and establishing alternative paths for data
where and when some part of the spectrum is unavailable.
FASTER IS BETTER
So what might the Air Force achieve if it can securely move
data at rates up to 10 Gbps—20 times faster than today’s fastest
4G LTE mobile networks?
Imagine high-speed wireless connectivity supporting ight
line test equipment, or lightning-fast animated simulation
and training, or full-motion, high-denition video to support
telemedicine, and instantaneous articial intelligence for
biometric identication.
O cials hope it could make operations more e cient
and maintenance sensors more helpful at a reborn Tyndall
Photo: SSgt. Mercedes Taylor
MSgt. Ryan
Stark (l)
leads SSgt.
Krystopher
Fletcher through
a virtual reality
(VR) scenario
emulating the
interior of an
aircraft at Little
Rock AFB, Ark.
VR could get
a boost from
5G wireless
networks.