"The United States has long missed the situation": how the Pentagon intends to use 5G for military purposes

The Pentagon has announced a $ 600 million investment in research and testing of 5G technologies, which will be conducted at five US military test sites.

"The Department of Defense today announced $ 600 million for research and testing of 5G technologies at five US military test sites, which will mark the world's largest full-scale dual use of 5G technology," the US Defense Department said in a statement.

As specified in the Pentagon, such events will be held at military bases Nellis (Nevada), Hill (Utah), Lewis McCord (Washington state), the Navy base in San Diego (California), as well as the Marine Corps supply base. in Albany, Georgia.

“At each site, military services, industry leaders and academics will work together to improve the 5G capabilities of the DOD.

Projects will include testing 5G augmented / virtual reality for mission scheduling and preparation, testing 5G smart warehouses and evaluating the use of 5G technologies to improve the quality of decentralized management, ”the US Department of Defense said.

In particular, at the Nellis military base, the 5G network will be used "to downsize existing command and control systems and make them more flexible in conditions of mobile combat," the United States defense department points out.

According to the Pentagon, it is "at the forefront of testing and researching the most advanced 5G technologies that will strengthen the US's combat capabilities, as well as its economic competitiveness in this critical area."

"It is important to note that today's announcement demonstrates the seriousness of the US Department of Defense's commitment to exploring promising dual-use tools and tools that could be developed from next-generation networks," the Pentagon's press service quoted Acting Deputy Defense Secretary for R&D Michael Kratsios.

At the same time, the message indicates that the goal of this project is "to quickly create a scalable, stable and reliable 5G network as a laboratory for experiments with augmented / virtual reality capabilities based on 5G for task scheduling, remote training and operational use."

• US military

• Reuters

• © Rick Wilking

"The US Department of Defense's efforts are focused on large-scale experiments and prototyping in dual-use 5G technologies that will improve speed and response times, connect significantly more wireless devices than current wireless technologies, and enable the US military to make a technological leap forward." - said in a message from the Pentagon.

It is also noted that the allocation of $ 600 million is only "the first tranche of grants for research and testing of 5G technologies." 

In search of 5G

We will remind, in September, the Pentagon announced that it wants to use 5G technology in the field of security and announced a tender to find innovative solutions to this problem.

According to a press release from the US Department of Defense, the main goal of the department in this case is "to analyze innovative solutions and technologies to ensure the sharing of the radio frequency spectrum of the Department of Defense in order to accelerate the process of frequency band allocation and deployment of 5G networks."

This is necessary, as noted in the Pentagon, "for the purposes of training, maintaining combat readiness and maintaining the destructive capacity" of the US Armed Forces.

"The information received can help the entire country and will allow the United States to become the world leader in 5G technologies for many years to come," said Dana Deasy, head of the Pentagon's information department.

The US Department of Defense also wants experts to find "best practices to ensure that the range is shared between military and civilian representatives."

Earlier, in May, the department announced that it was beginning to create its own prototype of the fifth generation (5G) mobile communications at Nellis Air Force Base.

Then it was assumed that this system will be put into operation by January 2021.

It also said that "5G technology is critical to maintaining America's military and economic advantage."

According to the United States Department of Defense, it is planned to install mobile cell towers at the military base, which can be dismantled in less than an hour.

It was also specified that the testing will involve mobile operations centers.

In this case, only users who are directly involved in the event will have access to the network.

"We missed the situation"

As military expert Ivan Konovalov noted in an interview with RT, all the recent actions of the Pentagon in the military application of 5G indicate that "the United States is trying to be the first in the field of communications, communications and the Internet."

“At the same time, the rhetoric of the military leadership is aimed at demonstrating the retention of the primacy visible in their understanding.

However, in reality, the American side has long missed the situation and is now seeking to somehow regain leadership, ”the analyst said.

• Pentagon

• AFP

As political scientist Alexander Asafov clarified, the United States is very far from China in the development of 5G technologies.

“It is the PRC that possesses these technologies.

However, the United States is deliberately reluctant to admit it and is keen to create a good marketing cover for a product that does not yet exist in the United States, find suppliers and develop technology.

At the same time, the main task is to demonstrate that there is a supposedly correct American 5G, which stands for the protection of America's values ​​in the hands of the military, in contrast to the hostile and spy Chinese, "the expert said in an interview with RT.

However, "despite the demonization of Chinese 5G technology by the American leadership, it is it that they will most likely use in the end," Asafov said.

“The United States cannot ignore the trends in the introduction of 5G in different areas of human life.

Despite the fact that mainly China owns this technology, the American side will have to use it, since these are new communication standards, on the basis of which new equipment is already being produced.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon will try to copy and repeat the Chinese successes, ”the analyst predicted.

Recall that the Chinese side has accelerated the development of 5G sales in the second quarter of 2020.

During this period, China accounted for 72% of global 5G mobile phone revenues, according to a report by research firm Counterpoint.

Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to Konovalov, the United States will not be able to achieve superiority in this area, including because "the American political elite has a poor understanding of the processes taking place in the world."

“The United States is losing its role as the world hegemon, and accordingly, the same is happening in cyberspace, which reflects this world, and the leadership of the United States is fading away.

However, the Pentagon never ceases to entertain itself with illusions that it can catch up.

Since the development of the Wild West, the Americans have either bought a potential enemy or killed him.

But since the world has changed, the United States has to come up with new ways and methods with which they could be ahead, ”the expert stated.

At the same time, Konovalov believes that the Pentagon's actions to introduce 5G into the military sphere are being taken, among other things, "to make money."

“The US military wants to receive salaries, pensions, quarterly bonuses.

They can invest even more to introduce innovations related to 5G, to complicate their control system, for example, various satellite constellations.

But this will not give them a decisive advantage in any direction, ”the analyst said.

As Asafov noted, $ 600 million for the development of 5G technologies for the Pentagon is "modest funds."

• Nellis Air Base

• © Wikimedia Commons

“But they will be enough to demonstrate Washington's intentions to invest in relevant projects and develop them,” the expert explained.

At the same time, Asafov believes that the date of the introduction of the fifth generation (5G) mobile prototype - January 2021, designated by the Pentagon, "is rather arbitrary."

“In the current political situation, when the presidential elections are on the nose, the US Department of Defense can set any date that is not a problem for the American military leadership to postpone later.

At the same time, such a date should not be too far away, so that the average person does not get the impression that America is lagging behind in technological progress and needs many years to catch up with China, ”the analyst concluded.