Lockheed Martin, Nokia, Verizon strengthen defence capabilities
With 5G.MIL collaboration
Lockheed Martin and Verizon have successfully demonstrated the integration of Nokia’s military-grade 5G solutions into Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL Hybrid Base Station (HBS). This collaboration marks a significant step in advancing the interoperability between commercial 5G networks and military communications systems, enabling enhanced connectivity and situational awareness for defence operations.
As 5G technology is vital in modernising military communications, this breakthrough aims to provide faster, more secure, and reliable communication links for tactical military missions. With 5G’s high-speed connectivity, military personnel can access real-time data, improving decision-making and operational effectiveness.
Lockheed Martin’s John Clark, Senior Vice President of Technology and strategic Innovation, highlighted the importance of this integration for military operations: “The United States and its allies increasingly depend on fast, secure, and advanced communications to access critical information and ensure effective deterrence against threats.
“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.”
The collaboration brings together Nokia’s cutting-edge 5G solutions, Verizon’s network management capabilities, and Lockheed Martin’s expertise in defence technologies. Nokia’s military-grade 5G solutions are designed for robust security, efficiency, and flexibility, offering optimised size, weight, and power. These features are essential in meeting the unique demands of defence and national security applications.
Tommi Uitto, Nokia’s President of Mobile Networks, stressed the potential of this partnership to transform defence operations. “This successful integration highlights the flexibility of Nokia’s cutting-edge 5G solutions to meet the unique demands of defence, ensuring robust security, optimised size, weight, and power efficiency, while supporting O-RAN and open, interoperable technologies,” Uitto said.
“Through our work with Lockheed Martin and Verizon, we are bringing the transformative power of 5G to mission-critical defence operations, enhancing situational awareness, speeding up decision-making, and reinforcing mission success.”
In recent demonstrations, Lockheed Martin successfully integrated Nokia’s military-grade 5G solutions into the 5G.MIL Unified Network Solutions ecosystem. These tests demonstrated seamless interoperability with Verizon’s network operations and management solutions, enabling the integration of traditional tactical communications with 5G using open systems architecture and commercial standards.
This open-standards approach allows for rapid integration of advanced capabilities into the HBS configurations, ensuring that new products and technologies can be deployed without the risk of vendor lock-in.
The initial integration was conducted at Verizon’s Boston Innovation Centre and Lockheed Martin’s Valley Forge laboratory in Pennsylvania, with final testing and demonstrations conducted at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas facility.
The demonstration showcased how the 5G.MIL HBS could support hybrid user equipment (HUE) that enables seamless switching between commercial 5G and tactical LPx waveforms, providing uninterrupted user application sessions on Android devices. LPx technology ensures a low probability of detection, interception, exploitation, jamming, geolocation, and spoofing, which are critical military communications features.
The collaboration between Lockheed Martin, Nokia, and Verizon will continue to evolve, incorporating additional technological advancements. Nokia’s 5G solutions will be further integrated at Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL Experimental Network site in Orlando, Florida, joining Verizon’s on-site capabilities.
The team will also expand hybrid network testing to include more device types, enhance tactical communication system interoperability, and develop secure public-private network configurations.
The strategic collaboration aims to enhance capabilities for global military, national security, and homeland defence missions, enabling operators with faster, more reliable wireless networks and greater interoperability to support Joint All-Domain Operations. Integrating 5G technology into military communications is expected to create a new era of connectivity for warfighters, supporting more effective and secure defence operations.
Image: The partnership between Lockheed Martin and Verizon enhances interoperability of commercial 5G with military communications systems. Credit: Lockheed Martin
