“Lockheed Martin is leveraging its commercial sector expertise to rapidly and affordably scale, adapt, and integrate 5G technology into mission-critical operations across land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains,” said Dan Rice, vice president for 5G.MIL Programs at Lockheed Martin. “Keysight’s commercially widely used end-to-end 5G test platforms provide an opportunity to develop tailored solutions that meet the stringent requirements of the defense industry.”
5G brings high-speed data rates, high connection density, security, and low latency to wireless communications networks. This collaboration advances Lockheed Martin’s vision for 5G.MIL to support secure and robust connectivity in defense and national security applications. It also aims to adapt commercial 5G technology to meet the needs of tactical communications in land- and non-land-based networks operated by the Department of Defense. By working with Keysight on automated test cases to assess cybersecurity and vulnerabilities across all 5G components and interfaces, Lockheed Martin is also able to determine the cyber robustness of its 5G-enabled solutions throughout their lifecycle, from development to operations.
“The deployment of secure, uninterrupted, and future-proof communications links serving land, sea, and air operations depends on the successful integration of 5G, satellite, cloud, artificial intelligence, and unmanned aerial vehicle technologies,” said Vince Nguyen, general manager for Aerospace and Defense Government Solutions at Keysight Technologies. “Leveraging Keysight’s portfolio of flexible, scalable, and fully automated test and measurement tools, Lockheed Martin has implemented the most advanced testbed for 5G and hybrid networks we have seen in the aerospace and defense industry.”
The testbed, which achieved initial operational capability in July, will help Lockheed Martin's 5G.MIL teams quickly verify interoperability and performance with a wide range of 5G equipment and simulate reliable and secure communications. Since then, the two companies have worked together to simulate, test, and validate 5G Open Radio Access Network and Non-Terrestrial Network communications. Through a strategic collaboration memorandum of understanding, the companies will incorporate additional capabilities to support emerging research and development needs and stay current with the latest 5G and subsequent technology advancements.