C5ISR Center Enhances 5G Wireless Network Technology

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (June 2025)—In the Letter to the Force: Army Transformation Initiative, released May 1, Dan Driscoll, Secretary of the Army, and Gen. Randy George, Chief of Staff of the Army, mentioned how battlefields were rapidly changing and how “adaptation is no longer an advantage — it’s a requirement for survival.”

Army researchers and technical experts at the U.S. Army Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center, are dedicated to developing technology and equipment to increase those odds of survivability. The Center’s goal is to ensure U.S. military forces have the capability to see, sense, communicate, and move faster than near-peer adversaries.

In line with our military forces having the capability to “see and communicate,” the Center has adapted and enhanced Fifth-Generation wireless network technology, more commonly known as 5G. Improved 5G capabilities will strengthen network resilience across a theater of operations—ensuring continuous operations with minimal disruptions or failures. Additionally, 5G is significantly faster than its predecessors, more stable, and secure. 5G also has a shorter data-processing delay across networks—this delay is known as latency.

“On today’s battlefield, Soldiers, vehicles, and equipment are often spread out across great distances,” said Beth Ferry, C5ISR Center Director. “The Army has to ensure its units remain interconnected despite austere conditions, environmental and geographical challenges, or interference from enemy forces. The low-latency and high reliability of 5G networks would ensure that combat and support teams stay connected and can communicate without delays or dropped signals.”

5G technology has had widespread commercial availability since 2019. The C5ISR Center has been at the leading edge of adapting 5G technology for tactical use, while working alongside industry, since 2020. The enhanced 5G wireless technology that the C5ISR Center is adapting, gives the Army and its warfighters a needed boost in its cellular capacity.

The C5ISR Center’s amplified 5G testing will help the Army reach its next level of network connectivity. With the increased number of service members heading to the U.S.-Mexico border, and the rise in global conflicts, advanced connectivity becomes a necessity.

“Our goal is to improve the network by leveraging commercial technology,” said Mike Piesen, C5ISR Center 5G Lead. “Where cellular really shines is through its scalability and latency. As we bring in more robotics and autonomous platforms into the same area, and spectrum gets more congested, the high spectral efficiency of 5G becomes critical.”

To keep up with emerging technology and stay ahead of the Army’s adversaries, scientists and engineers with the C5ISR Center’s Mobile and Survivable Command Post team began experimenting with 5G technologies to improve its secured command post systems and to remain less detectable.

“We can use the commercial networks in place when we feel the network is trusted,” said Piesen. “There’s an important concept of ‘hiding in plain sight’ when it comes to 5G. As cellular networks become more and more ubiquitous, commercial signals in the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum become more common and modified military signals can become more noticeable.”

The C5ISR Center implemented additional security features and network protection to allow Army users to be less susceptible to adversaries on the commercial networks.

Throughout the next few months, the C5ISR Center will experiment, test, and refine its 5G capabilities during Network Modernization Experiment 25. The Center will work to utilize current infrastructures to minimize costs. Once the Center establishes a mature 5G capability, this enhancement would allow for more connected devices with faster real-time data processing.

“What we want to do is to try to use existing infrastructure wherever we go, if we can do it safely and securely,” said Piesen. “So, it helps if we can leverage what’s already there, but we’ll also bring our own private cellular network. By doing this, it provides the best of both worlds where you can get the universal coverage that people expect.”

By incorporating more 5G technology into Army operations, this upgrade could increase communication reliability and potentially reduce limitations in bandwidth, speed, and security—establishing network resilience across the Army. Additionally, 5G enhancements would enable real-time collaboration between ground units, improving situational awareness, and ensure near-instantaneous, secure transmission of critical data across long distances—which in turn can improve Soldier-lethality.

“Certain technology allows us to link-up together, and not just cell phones. We can have vehicles, drones, sensors, or even Soldiers on the move,” said Piesen. “There’s a lot you can do with 5G and cellular, in terms of the economy of scale for the handhelds that you might not be able to do with more traditional tactical systems.”

If an infrastructure doesn’t exist, don’t worry, the Center has that covered too. The organization can bring its own. “We can leverage the same base-station technology to bring that seamless wireless capability where it’s needed most at the tactical edge,” said Piesen.

The advancement of 5G technology with high-speed data transmission could provide an essential capability to organizations globally. Having improved capabilities could allow unmanned aerial systems and unmanned ground vehicles to operate effectively and efficiently in a multi-domain operation.

“The cellular industry invests about 100 billion dollars a year into improving just 5G/6G technology,” said Piesen, “The government can’t keep up with that level of commercial investment, but we can take advantage of it by implementing 5G where it makes sense.”

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The U.S. Army Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center is the Army’s applied research and advanced technology development center for C5ISR capabilities. As the Army’s primary integrator of C5ISR technologies and systems, DEVCOM C5ISR Center supports our networked Warfighters by identifying, developing, maturing, and rapidly integrating innovative technologies to drive continuous transformation.

DEVCOM C5ISR Center is an asset of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. DEVCOM is Army Futures Command’s leader and integrator within a global ecosystem of scientific exploration and technological innovation. DEVCOM expertise spans eight major competency areas to provide integrated research, development, analysis and engineering support to the Army and DOD. From rockets to robots, drones to dozers, and aviation to artillery – DEVCOM innovation is at the core of the combat capabilities American Warfighters need to win on the battlefield of the future. For more information, visit c5isrcenter.devcom.army.mil/.