U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 86th Communications Squadron help set up a 5G cell tower at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Sep. 3, 2021. (U.S. Air Force/Airman Jared Lovett)

WASHINGTON: Lockheed Martin and software giant Microsoft are joining forces to develop 5G technologies for the military, Lockheed’s head of 5G programs said in an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense.

Although the two companies announced the agreement tonight, Lockheed and Microsoft have already collaborated on their first demonstration, which took place at Lockheed Martin Space’s 5G test range in Colorado last December.

“We essentially simulated four different air platforms doing ISR missions and close air support, to support a simulated special operations force on the ground that was pursuing a high value target,” said Dan Rice, Lockheed’s vice president for 5G.MIL, the term Lockheed uses to describe its 5G efforts.

During the laboratory tests, the companies were able to link three hybrid base stations — basically, transportable 5G base stations that can also connect to military networks —  to Microsoft’s 5G core and to military datalinks such as NATO’s Link 16 and other advanced tactical links.

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The companies also used Microsoft’s Azure Arc, a suite of management tools for cloud environments, to move applications from the enterprise level to the tactical level, to be used by dismounted troops on the ground, Rice said

“The real intent here was to start to expand and show the value of these hybrid connected networks to bridge the gaps that we see today in DoD communication,” he said.

Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet has personally made 5G integration one of the company’s top priorities since taking its reins in 2020.

During a Feb. 10 investors conference, Taiclet said 5G.MIL could “[put] Lockheed Martin …  in the pole position” for joint all domain operations — the US military concept that calls for linking all of the services’ sensors and shooters together so that they can exchange data across currently stovepiped systems.

Lockheed’s vision for 5G.MIL involves taking commercial 5G technologies, figuring out how to integrate them with existing military networks, and layering on protections to make them more resilient and secure, Rice said.

“Existing and emerging DoD communication systems are going to be around for a long time to come, and we can augment and support those existing systems with the capabilities of 5G and next-gen technology,” Rice said. “We don’t view this as ending with 5G, but starting to integrate the commercial telecommunication capabilities, where commercial industry has invested hundreds of billions of dollars to create resilient, high performance, mobile telecommunications.”

Aside from Microsoft, Lockheed has also signed partnership deals with a number of commercial communications companies, including a November 2021 agreement with Verizon and a March 2021 partnership with satellite startup Omnispace.