The 5G Ecosystem: Risks & Opportunities for DoD.

• Author: Medin, Milo
• Position: FURTHER READING

Much has been written about the fifth generation of wireless network technology known as 5G, most of it revolving around concerns that Chinese giant Huawei might use the network for nefarious means.

The Defense Department "must prepare to operate in a post-Western wireless ecosystem," an April Defense Innovation Board report stated. It takes on the Huawei issue and lots of other security concerns, but also looks at the potential benefits of 5G for the military.

"The shift from 4G to 5G will drastically impact the future of global communication networks and fundamentally change the environment in which DoD operates," writes the report's authors. The commercial sector will be the driving force behind this new technology, but the military must take advantage of it.

Many of the concepts seen on recent U.S. military PowerPoints showing information zipping around the battlefield, artificial intelligence...