A closer look at the Dish 5G/satellite network for the US military
DanoVisionMIKE DANO, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies4/4/2023
Several top wireless executives – including Dish and EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen – recently celebrated the launch of a new private wireless 5G network for the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island, a major naval operation in the Pacific Northwest.
EchoStar released a picture of the ribbon-cutting event, which also featured John Mezzalingua of JMA Wireless, Angela Eberhardt of Cisco and David Tokunaga of Boingo.
Charlie Ergen, fifth from left, celebrates the launch of a new private wireless 5G network for the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island.
Others on hand (left to right): Matthew LaTurner, Intel; Captain Eric M. Hanks, Commanding Officer, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; David Tokunaga, Boingo; John Mezzalingua, JMA Wireless; Rick Lober, Hughes; Dr. Rajeev Gopal, Hughes; and Angela Eberhardt, Cisco.
Click here for a larger version of this image.
(Source: Hughes)
Hughes Network Systems first announced the network roughly a year ago. Hughes is the prime contractor for the network, which stems from an $18 million contract from the Department of Defense (DoD), alongside the Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP) consortium. IWRP is a "collaboration to engage industry and academia to develop and mature technologies in the field of information warfare that enhance Navy and Marine Corps mission effectiveness," according to Hughes.
Other vendors supporting the new network include Boingo (which installs and operates networks at various US military bases), JMA Wireless (which supplied radios for the Whidbey Island network), and Cisco, Dell and Intel (three top equipment vendors for Dish's growing 5G network).
In response to questions from Light Reading, Hughes' Rick Lober explained that the base's new network uses Dish's 3.5GHz CBRS and 600MHz spectrum holdings, and that it covers "a few acres," including the base's flight line and hangars.
The network is intended to support "flight line operations and equipment maintenance," according to Lober, Hughes' vice president and general manager for defense and government systems.