5G is a technology originally developed to address the ongoing rapid pace of digital transformation of the different vertical industries in the civilian world. It is continuously being developed through standardisation activities in 3GPP, and new releases with extended features of the standard are approved approximately every 18 to 24 months.

To ensure a technological edge in military use of 5G, it is important to capitalise on the continued momentum of new releases and associated features relevant for military operations. In 2016, resilience in civil communication systems was listed by NATO as one of seven baseline requirements that each Member State should measure their level of preparedness. In November 2019, this requirement was updated by NATO Defence Ministers, who stressed the need for reliable communications including 5G.

To address this statement and ensure a higher degree of robustness and resilience in military operations when operating in the tactical edge, the militaries should be able to exploit and seamlessly interact with civilian infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted services for tactical command and control applications.

This topic focuses on system level integration and orchestration of 5G technologies for seamless interaction of private military and public 5G networks. Hence, the overall objective is to support the need for an always connected concept enabling military applications to roam securely through a mix of private and public networks. To achieve this, there is a need to study, develop and demonstrate how the military can exploit seamless and uninterrupted transfer of secure applications and services in a coverage area served by a mix of private military and public 5G networks, including BLoS (Beyond Line of Sight) through Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communication systems integrated in 3GPP standard.

Specific objective

The specific challenge of this topic is to demonstrate robust and dynamic operational capabilities of 5G connectivity solutions matching the military needs for tactical command and control applications and services.

The solution should always be connected via a hybrid form of networks, while ensuring secure communications, using tactical networks, private military and public 5G networks and other federation solutions. The use of flexible reach back solutions such as 5G NTN is also necessary to reach shared centralised cloud services.

Within this context, secure integration of commercial and military hardware, software and services is a fundamental challenge that must be addressed on both a technological and a commercial level.

Scope:

Proposals must address the development of either integrated private-public 5G system architectures for military operations, or private military 5G networks, or public 5G services for military applications.

Moreover, proposals should lead to the development and demonstration of case-agnostic technical products and services, applicable to military operations across all dimensions of warfare. The demonstrations should be performed in relevant operational environments and cover all aspects from devices, infrastructure, security, and simplified orchestration of the overall system.

Types of activities

The following table lists the types of activities which are eligible for this topic, and whether they are mandatory or optional (see Article 10(3) EDF Regulation):

Accordingly, the proposals must cover at least the following tasks as part of studies mandatory activities:

• Perform feasibility studies to explore the feasibility of new or improved technologies, products, processes, services, and solutions for 5G military applications.
• Study the concept of 5G Network-as-a-Sensor, targeting future capabilities of using a mix of private and public 5G networks for RF reconnaissance enabled by third party applications through an Open RAN API.
• Set up simulation or emulation tools of mobile networks and/or associated applications, enabling improved understanding of current network situations (i.e., analysis) as well as of future configurations and deployments (i.e., predictions).
• Demonstrate that 5G works for private networks in different frequency bands, such as ISM bands (5G, for 5G unlicensed), in NATO bands (e.g., 4400-5000 MHz, 225-400 MHz, etc.).

The proposals must substantiate synergies and complementarities with foreseen, ongoing or completed activities in the field of communications, notably those described in the call topic EDF-2021-C4ISR-D-COMS related to Robust defence multi-dimensional communications.

Moreover:

• projects addressing activities referred to in point (d) above must be based on harmonised defence capability requirements jointly agreed by at least two Member States or EDF associated countries (or, if studies within the meaning of point (c) are still needed to define the requirements, at least on the joint intent to agree on them)
• projects addressing activities referred to in points (e) to (h) above, must be:
  • supported by at least two Member States or EDF associated countries that intend to procure the final product or use the technology in a coordinated manner, including through joint procurement

and

• • based on common technical specifications jointly agreed by the Member States or EDF associated countries that are to co-finance the action or that intend to jointly procure the final product or to jointly use the technology (or, if design within the meaning of point (d) is still needed to define the specifications, at least on the joint intent to agree on them).

For more information, please check section 6.

Functional requirements

The proposed product and technologies should meet the following functional requirements:

1. Operational requirements:

• Ensure that troops and military assets are always best connected with interoperability capabilities to use multiple networks.
• Provide worldwide connectivity through the integration of 5G NTN.
• Dedicated 5G defence slices in public networks for tactical command and control applications.
• Robust, resilient, secure, and manageable roaming across private and public network.
• Robust tactical applications and services that can operate locally even when communication with central services is lost.
• Making use of existing civilian networking infrastructure in military operations.
• Allow military private mobile networks operate as extensions of public mobile networks whenever feasible with demands on roaming and interconnect.
• End-to-end military-grade SIM encryption (i.e., through the GSMA standard IoT SAFE.
• Access to terrestrial-based navigation services when GNSS signals are subjected to jamming (e.g., through 5G positioning).
• Automated and simple network setup and operation by military personnel (e.g., through self-organising networks).
• Handling federation and interconnection of private and public 5G networks according to the framework of Federated Mission Networking (FMN).
• Ensure transmission security (LPI/LPD) to protect from interception and exploitation in the spectrum (e.g., spread spectrum, frequency hopping).
• Support of civil-military communication via interworking of military 5G solutions and public solutions, as required for defence operations.
• Leveraging interoperability with LTE/5G support.

1. Technical requirements:

• Utilising 3GPP 5G standards (5G RAN, 5GC) and connected applications (e.g., NR, network slicing, FWA, NTN).
• 5G Stand-alone solution for tactical network.
• Redundancy and security for critical solutions, especially solutions considering the needs in terms of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, when facing threats (including cyber threats) corresponding to the military use cases for active cyber defence.
• Interoperability and integration with existing military infrastructure, including through usage of military frequencies for private military 5G applications.
• Leveraging commercial 5G networks and technologies (e.g., network slicing, edge computing, 5G NTN, Open RAN, D2D, IoT SAFE, etc.).
• Compatible with different frequency bands (e.g., ISM, NATO, etc.), including with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing.

Expected Impact:

The outcome is expected to contribute to:

• Reduce dependencies on non-European suppliers by boosting the EDTIB and promoting the development of a European solution.
• Create a European ecosystem for secured 5G devices and infrastructures, including hybrid networks (utilising both civilian and military radio technologies), configuration and management tools and cyber security fit for military use.
• Prepare the ground for the use in defence operations of next generation communication standards (e.g., 6G).
• Demonstrate the adaption of an appropriate industry standard to military needs.
• Orchestrate services across multiple administrative domains through the concept of federation.
• Provide worldwide 5G connectivity for operations through the integration of NTN.