July 1, 2023
5G & Edge Computing: The Future of the DoD and JADC2
In December 2020, the Secretary of Defense published the “Department of Defense 5G Strategy Implementation Plan.” Within it, the Department of Defense (DoD) describes the importance of integrating 5G and edge computing into military operations, primarily for its higher performance, data-driven applications, and machine-to-machine communication. The strategy provides a baseline roadmap for development, experimentation, and prototyping 5G capabilities while ensuring the DoD will facilitate the advancement and adoption of 5G technology. This plan stresses the importance and emerging capabilities of the technology as well as on-going efforts with endless possibilities for implementation. However, 5G and edge computing can achieve much more. It is key to the military’s concept of Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) by greatly improving areas of command and control (C2), logistics, future weapon capabilities, and implementation into large scale combat operations.