Ericsson and Leonardo Trial 5G at Sea with Italian Navy
Ericsson and Leonardo, in collaboration with the Italian Navy, successfully demonstrated long-range 5G Standalone (SA) data communication capabilities at sea. The live trials tested on-board connectivity and naval vessel systems over a prolonged period in real-world operational conditions.
- The trial utilized a self-contained, end-to-end Ericsson 5G Standalone network installed on the Italian Navy's amphibious landing ship, the San Giorgio. - A second vessel, the Multi-Purpose Combat Ship Raimondo Montecuccoli, was equipped with 5G customer premises equipment (CPE) to establish a secure, real-time link between the two ships. - Leonardo provided its NINE encryption solution to enable the secure, real-time exchange of both classified and unclassified information during the exercise. - The demonstration included streaming video from 12 unmanned systems, which was processed by Leonardo's AI Brain platform. - This test was part of the Italian Navy's Operational Experimentation (OPEX) 2-25 in the Gulf of Taranto and built upon previous collaborations within the European Defence Fund's 5G COMPAD project. - A key outcome was demonstrating that a unified 5G network can optimize spectrum usage and reduce interference risks compared to using multiple, separate communication systems. - The U.S. Department of Defense is also heavily investing in 5G, with a commitment of $600 million for testbeds at over a dozen military bases, signaling a broader trend in Western naval forces. - Ericsson has explicitly targeted the U.S. military as a major potential customer for its 5G networking technology, aligning with the Pentagon's goal to connect all branches into a single global communications system.
