Verizon announced an $11.5 million Tranche 2 award from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to construct a private 5G network inside an aircraft maintenance hangar on Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH).
The design will allow military leaders to leverage the high-speed, high-bandwidth and low-latency of Verizon 5G, providing on-base personnel with the ability to explore how enhanced wireless coverage can help increase operational efficiencies.
Ericsson will serve as a partner to Verizon on the Tranche 2 award work, bringing their Ericsson Private 5G solution which offers a core and radio access network to the test site.
As part of the pilot network design on JBHHH, which includes a hangar and other nearby areas, a limited number of aircraft maintenance personnel will explore new ways to implement Foreign Object Detection (FOD), other airplane maintenance applications and several different user equipment (UE) devices to see how they perform on the private network. Early testing will determine how the military can apply this design and the corresponding outcomes to other bases.
Verizon’s construction of a private 5G network at JBPHH follows its announcement earlier this year of a commercial 5G UW mmwave tower, also located on JBPHH.
Maggie Hallbach, SVP for Public Sector at Verizon
Verizon Public Sector is proud of its partnership with the U.S. Armed Forces and excited about the digital transformation work already underway in a selected test area at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam . The private 5G network we’re constructing in an aircraft maintenance hangar at JBPHH is just the latest example of how we're helping the U.S. Department of Defense deliver innovative, mission-critical capabilities across a range of military operations through advanced network and communications solutions.
Graham Osborne, VP and Head of Customer Unit Verizon, Ericsson North America
We're continuing to push technological advancements with our long-standing partner Verizon to deliver on their 5G ambitions, and today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to exploring the vast applications and opportunities that can be built upon next-generation networks.
