A Defense Communications Forum panel discussed defense use of commercial 3GPP standards for 5G, with the debate centering on speed, spectrum access, and Satellite & Space Connectivity in contested environments.
The panel included Amir Stephenson of Lockheed Martin, Doug Thornton of Battelle Memorial Institute, and Arthur DeLeon, the Department of the Navy’s Strategic Spectrum Planner for the Secretary of the Navy. Commercial cellular networks offer rapid deployment architectures, large economies of scale, and advanced features that the Department of Defense would rather borrow than build itself.
Why commercial 3GPP keeps coming up
Stephenson said that to move faster, the military must integrate the best available capabilities. He framed commercial 5G as a complement to tactical radios rather than a replacement for them.
Thornton argued that moving specific non-tactical communications to commercial vendors could help the military regain access to spectrum. He also said that using 3GPP technologies provides coordination benefits and access to technological building blocks that make systems faster and cheaper.
Spectrum harmonization still runs into national control
The article says there are 149 distinct national spectrum allocation tables. DeLeon said spectrum harmonization across allied countries is difficult because each host nation retains sovereign control over how it implements spectrum policy.
Stephenson said some radar systems can share spectrum while others cannot because they serve different missions. That makes spectrum sharing a case-by-case question, not a blanket policy.
What this means for defense spectrum planners
For defense spectrum planners, the practical read is that commercial standards are being treated as a tool for specific non-tactical use cases, not a clean replacement for tactical systems. The panel also tied that view to the need to avoid a costly bespoke rebuild.
DeLeon said the migration to commercial standards must be deliberate and should avoid creating a trillion-dollar problem for the federal government. Stephenson pointed to cyber best practices in 3GPP Release 15 as a model for strengthening standards and carrying gains into the tactical world.
Automation is the next argument
Thornton said adversaries know which devices operate in which bands when spectrum allocation is static. DeLeon said machine learning could create maneuver space by automating manual spectrum processes.
Thornton said automation could let expeditionary forces spin networks up or down quickly in response to localized threats. Stephenson warned that customizing commercial technology too much for corner-case tactical threats could erase the value that made it attractive, which is why the panel favored a hybrid network-of-networks model in which 5G and 6G sit alongside purpose-built tactical systems.