The Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a $2.5 billion Spectrum Forward Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to the National Spectrum Consortium (NSC) to accelerate the development, adoption and deployment of next-gen technologies to provide warfighters the decisive edge on the battlefield.

The OTA has a term of five years.

The goal of the Spectrum Forward OTA is to facilitate a partnership between the US technology and industrial base and the US Government to develop dual-use technologies across a range of advanced technologies that rely upon electromagnetic spectrum from machine learning to autonomous navigation to next-gen radio access networks.

The NSC comprises nearly 400 US companies and academic institutions, and their technologists, engineers, scientists, manufacturers, and program managers work with their counterparts in government to solve the toughest problems facing the nation with regard to 5G, 5G-based technologies, and spectrum access and sharing.

DOD issued several 5G related requests for prototype proposals through the NSC earlier this year, which called for industry input into testbeds and technology development related to dynamic spectrum sharing, AR/VR for Training and Smart Warehouses.

Under this new Spectrum Forward OTA, NSC members will “perform coordinated research and development projects designed to accelerate streamlining and upgrading of communications infrastructure, improving efficient spectrum utilization, and advancing microelectronics to enable protected and resilient networks.”