By leveraging synergies at both national and NATO levels, participating Nations will scale up research, development, and experimentation through a coordinated approach, while benefiting from economies of scale, enhanced situational awareness and influence. The MN5G project also establishes a military 5G community sharing information, aligning common requirements, and fostering innovation to benefit its participating Nations and NATO.
5G, or fifth-generation International Mobile Telecommunications standards and technologies, have an impact in global defence and security. These technologies are constantly evolving, and the military need to embrace them and influence their evolution to meet defence requirements.
The MN5G project will focus on interoperability, the implementation of critical 5G features, spectrum, security architectures, and other enabling elements required for multinational application. Initial activities will centre on expanding the project scope, organizing and hosting a military 5G conference, and initiating the technical work across three main work areas: Awareness and Influence (including Standardization), Capability Development, and Security. Additionally, the project will collaborate and coordinate activities with other NATO 5G initiatives to ensure alignment and maximize impact.
Under the direction of the participating Nations, MN5G will work with different stakeholders, including industry and academia, to leverage and complement ongoing NATO efforts in military use of 5G. The MN5G project will address 5G standardization to include military requirements in future 5G standards; develop future military communication and application systems based on 5G technologies; and respond to security concerns and challenges linked to this technology in multinational military contexts. This will inform future national and NATO capability development projects by providing valuable insights and reducing potential risks.
The MN5G project is open to other Nations, some of them have already shown interest in participating in the project activities as observers with a view to join as participating members at a later stage.
For more information on this project, please read our NITECH magazine #11, page 82-85, where NCIA experts provide an overview of the project and how it started.