Pentagon to Release Open-Source 5G/6G RAN Stack

The Pentagon's initiative, dubbed the Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit (OCUDU), will see its first version published to GitHub in April. This project is a collaboration between the FutureG office, which is part of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and the non-profit National Spectrum Consortium. The stated goal is to create a "Linux of RAN" to foster innovation in the same way Linux did for the internet and Kubernetes for cloud computing. In September 2025, the National Spectrum Consortium awarded a contract to DeepSig, an AI-native wireless communication company, and its partner Software Radio Systems (SRS) to develop the initial OCUDU software. The OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation has been established in collaboration with The Linux Foundation to oversee the project. Founding members of this foundation include major global telecom companies such as Ericsson, Nokia, Verizon, and AT&T. This move directly challenges the proprietary systems of a few major vendors, including Huawei, Ericsson, and Qualcomm, which currently dominate the 5G market. The project aims to deliver a modular, hardware-agnostic solution that complies with both 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance specifications, promoting a more diverse and competitive vendor ecosystem. The O-RAN Alliance's mission is to enhance the foundational standards set by 3GPP by introducing more flexibility and openness through open interfaces. The FutureG office's broader mandate includes ensuring U.S. technological superiority in future wireless technologies, with a focus on areas like integrated sensing and communication, and agile spectrum operations. This initiative is part of a larger U.S. government trend toward embracing open-source software to enhance security and accelerate development, a strategy also championed by entities like DARPA. The development of 6G is expected to heavily incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning, enabling applications like drone swarm control, deconfliction, and detection. The OCUDU project is seen as a foundational software layer upon which 6G and future networks can be built. This aligns with a global push from companies like NVIDIA and Deutsche Telekom to build 6G on open, AI-native platforms. The Pentagon is already testing 5G capabilities in real-world military scenarios, including at bases in Africa and in multinational experiments with NATO allies in Latvia. These experiments are designed to inform the development of initiatives like Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), which aims to connect data streams across all branches of the U.S. military and its international partners.