Pentagon CIO to Take Over Agency’s 5G Programs

The Department of Defense’s Office of the Chief Information Officer will lead all 5G activities across the agency from the start of the fiscal year 2024 as part of its modernization efforts.

Speaking at a Defense Tech Week event, DOD CIO John Sherman, a 2023 Wash100 awardee and a speaker at the Potomac Officers Club’s forthcoming 4th Annual CIO Summit, shared that his office is already working with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, which currently oversees 5G activities, to ensure a smooth transition. Sherman added that his office will look to expand existing 5G pilot programs to more organizations.

The CIO office is already working with several companies to expand 5G pilots, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.

The shift is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to move towards an open network and open software approach. The department also wants to reduce its reliance on technologies and platforms owned by adversaries like China.

The DOD and its defense industrial base have been investing in 5G and 5G-enabled technologies over the previous months.

In late September, defense contractors Verizon and Lockheed Martin demonstrated how 5G-enabled drones can capture and transfer high-speed ISR data in real-time. During the test, the contractors transferred radio frequency and video data gathered by drones to the 5G .mil network over 5G millimeter-wave links.

In the same month, the Pentagon funded a testbed within the Idaho National Laboratory that identifies how 5G can support military forces, combatant commands and other government agencies.