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Private 5G Deployment Strategy Implementation Plan in the Works

Department of Defense officials are creating the logistics behind putting their new 5G infrastructure and guidelines into action on all military bases.

A new cellphone tower enhances service at Fort George G. Meade. Abigail Carey, Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs

A new cellphone tower enhances service at Fort George G. Meade. Credit: Abigail Carey, Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs

As the fifth generation (5G) of mobile communications becomes the norm in civilian life, Department of Defense (DoD) leaders are also working on making it the standard on military bases. Now that federal officials have formally released the new private 5G deployment strategy, they can move on to attacking the next tests that this enormous project presents. Personnel associated with the proposition are expressing excitement, but they understand that much more work is needed.

Firstly, crews are currently constructing a plan that covers how they will install the 5G infrastructure and enforce guidelines across all military bases, according to Juan Ramirez, director, 5G Cross Functional Team (CFT), Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer. This document will help the armed forces ensure that implementation of the 5G networks and relevant requirements goes smoothly so that soldiers can use and benefit from the 5G capabilities as soon as possible. Crews are working on perfecting the plan, even while enduring several challenges, including the project’s lengthy timeline, Ramirez warned.

“It’s a fast, fun time, but I will be honest,” Ramirez said in an interview with SIGNAL Media. “Developing policy, developing instructions, implementation plans, strategies, they take time, and before they actually start to make headway, it can be one to two years out. And so one of the things that we are doing within the CFT is helping to guide and helping to implement what we’re doing already so that you don’t have to wait for it to necessarily be published and signed up by God and country, but that we’re starting to proactively take those steps.”

Ramirez added that budgetary constraints might be another challenge that crews will have to work through to complete this project as quickly as possible.

Similarly, federal officials are putting together several other documents that will propel the frictionless deployment of the 5G network and strategy. One example of this is a decision aid. To compile this document, researchers are examining and gathering data about the private 5G network that will allow officials to provide informed suggestions on which scenarios the private 5G network will find most effective, according to Ramirez. Additionally, the research will enable officials to identify which notional 5G use cases demand a private 5G network.

Officials also are working on and could soon release the reference architecture, according to Ramirez. Military services representatives and stakeholders from the DoD are building this foundational document to provide the step-by-step blueprint and requirements for how the DoD will eventually deploy the private 5G network.
Lastly, federal officials are in the process of confirming that all these next steps align with proposed and already established 5G cybersecurity requirements. This development is critical to make certain that data transferred over the private 5G network will remain safe, secure and out of the adversaries’ hands. And DoD officials are going to extreme lengths to ensure that personnel can enjoy the advanced private 5G network safely and securely, something Ramirez calls “imperative.”

“What are we doing behind the scenes as we look at the deployment of the private 5G networks?” Ramirez asked himself. “A lot of it is going to be driven from not only a cybersecurity perspective but really ensuring that you’re adhering to either prescribed policies and/or policies that are coming up to date.”

“So, from a cybersecurity perspective, it’s imperative to the department, and we’ve seen in light of certain things that have come out, that private, 5G standalone networks really are the solution to ensure that you are meeting and protecting data,” Ramirez added. “So, we have a number of controls that we’ve set in place and some that are actually going to be published ideally soon.”

Overall, the future of the private 5G network strategy still has a plethora of unanswered questions regarding implementation, installation and the project’s timeline, and crews are working to address those uncertainties. Despite them, Ramirez is excited about the progress that he and his team have made to advance the project to the next steps.

“What do I envision for the future of the private 5G strategy?” Ramirez asked himself. “I’m going to say this from Juan’s perfect world: that it’s a foundational document that, as services start developing their public land mobile network (PLMN) submissions and looking at network modernization, that they’re able to have an easy how-to guide to develop and implement private networks as they need to be done. So that’s kind of where we’re at.”

As aforementioned, DoD officials released their private 5G deployment strategy late last year. A massive goal of the Defense Department has been to install commercial 5G networks onto military bases across the world, according to Ramirez. This upgrade will offer soldiers and civilians on bases high-speed cellular service to accomplish routine mission needs or daily activities, according to DoD officials. As for the strategy, the document states three main objectives: ensure private 5G infrastructure aligns with each installation’s unique missions; accelerate acquisition, development and secure deployment of 5G; and expand the use of an Open Radio Access Network ecosystem. Lawmakers in Congress played a major role in creating an avenue for this idea to become a reality. They introduced the idea into the fiscal year 2024, and they also directed the DoD to create the 5G CFT, which has been crucial in getting the project off and running, according to Ramirez.

As for the actual private 5G network, people with the Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer are communicating with military services officials and representatives with major telecommunications companies regarding several technical topics, according to Ramirez.

“We’re looking at it focusing on expediting the infrastructure siting process, which is just your ability to get on base faster, to build that infrastructure, and that’s you being the carriers,” Ramirez said. “As well as to really focus on consistency, focus on interoperability, as well as create a variety of resources that the services can utilize and adopt so that there’s a consistent path for fast deployment of these technologies.”

So far, military services and industry officials have given the DoD positive feedback regarding the strategy, creating even more reasons for Ramirez and his team to be excited about the future.

“The only other thing that I would highlight is the department is poised to do a lot, and I think we are making strides to ensure that we have interoperable, deployable 5G solutions,” Ramirez said. “And with the support from industry, we’ve made a lot of success. And so just continue to be excited about it, and I look forward to the future.”