Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, confirmed to reporters that his office is making 5G development a priority.
“We’re looking at 5G, which is a Department of Defense initiative that was given to R&E to supervise. We’re evermore convinced, given especially all the news centering around Huawei — who will and won’t buy their hardware, whether we will or won’t — [that] microelectronics [and] assured microelectronics is a key priority,” Griffin said.
The Pentagon sees 5G as an important technology for IoT and defense, and Griffin said that he expects new funds to be allocated to 5G in the fiscal 2021 budget. “You’ll see that we’ve requested significant money, we’re actually requesting extra money in [FY20] for that and in the [Future Years Defense Program]. When those budgets are released, you’ll see all that,” he said. “This is a major initiative for us.”