{"id":19493,"date":"2020-03-04T00:57:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T00:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/04\/air-force-leaders-dont-want-to-give-up-spectrum-for-5g\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:23:33","slug":"air-force-leaders-dont-want-to-give-up-spectrum-for-5g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks-battlefield-tech\/5g-it-networks-battlefield-tech\/2020\/03\/04\/air-force-leaders-dont-want-to-give-up-spectrum-for-5g\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force leaders don\u2019t want to give up spectrum for 5G"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 Top U.S. Air Force officials doubled down March 3 on the message<\/a> that the Pentagon will not vacate airwaves that telecom firms want in their race with China to build the next-generation mobile networks, known as 5G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein<\/a> and Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett<\/a> echoed Defense Secretary Mark Esper saying he\u2019d be open to sharing mid-band spectrum, which is used by the the Aegis ship-defense system and Airborne Warning And Control System aircraft, among other major weapons systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to operate in that spectrum. There may be some ways to parcel and share that spectrum, but we cannot leave it,\u201d Goldfein said. \u201cAnd there are some that are asking us to give that up, and that is not something I could ever advise you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an exchange with Airland Subcommittee Chairman, Sen. Tom Cotton<\/a>, R-Ark., Goldfein affirmed midband is important to AWACS and \u201cwhere we\u2019re going with battlefield networks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service is developing its next-generation Advanced Battle Management System, which would give platforms the ability to simultaneously receive, fuse and act upon a massive collection of data from multiple domains instantaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only sharing we can do is sharing where the fidelity of our signals is not intruded,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Federal Communications Commission has initiated proceedings to free up spectrum, the White House has reportedly remained under pressure from telecommunications firms to free up access for mid-band spectrum, which they see as a commodity worth billions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington has been warning<\/a> other countries to be wary of Chinese investment and influence and lobbying them to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from involvement in the network because of cyberespionage concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, some lawmakers and industry are pressing the Pentagon to balance its immediate operational needs against the economic and technological benefits expected to come with 5G\u2019s improvements in data speed, volume and latency over fourth-generation networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrett told Cotton it was disappointing that some allies were opting not to exclude Huawei from their developing networks, but she acknowledged the United States has yet to offer \u201cgood alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to up our game to have as competitive a system, a more competitive system,\u201d Barrett said. She added that if allies used the networks Huawei operates on, it would put American signals and airmen at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\t