AT&T to Prep Tyndall AFB for 5G Deployment; Mike Leff Quoted

AT&T has partnered with the U.S. Air Force to update the communications infrastructure of Tyndall AF Base in Florida ahead of the planned 5G rollout, Defense Systems reported Thursday.

The company will also provide enterprise information technology systems, broadband connectivity, cloud and unified communications technologies as well as related services and devices as part of the agreement.

Mike Leff, vice president for defense at AT&T’s global public sector segment, said 5G implementation at Tyndall AFB will support a range of base operations such as simulated training for aircrew and predictive maintenance for equipment and facilities.

He noted that 5G, along with cloud computing and data resources, has the capacity to “provide actionable intelligence to help achieve the mission and ultimately give the military a competitive and decisional advantage.”

The Air Force also plans to use 5G to support FirstNet connectivity for first responders. The 5G effort at Tyndall is slated to run for three to five years, with the installation slated for 5G-based operations by the mid-2020s.