Brenda Marie Rivers
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have downselected four startups to receive prizes worth $200K combined to pilot their 5G technologies as part of an industry competition launched through the National Security Innovation Network.
The NSIN Starts program is aimed at identifying commercial entities with the capacity to support the Department of Defense’s deployment of 5G technologies to bases and forward operating units, NSIN said Wednesday.
COMSovereign, Omnispace, vRotors and GenXComm each secured $50K and will demonstrate their respective technologies at the 5G Living Lab located within Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California.
USMC previously partnered with Verizon to establish the first 5G lab for the DoD at MCAS Miramar.
Andres Irlando, senior vice president and president for public sector and Verizon Connect at Verizon, said the NSIN Starts program additionally demonstrates the capacity of the company's 5G Ultra Wideband technology for mission-critical operations.
NSIN presented the virtual competition this week and partnered with Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific and the NavalX SoCal Tech Bridge for the effort.
