The US military have expressed concern over China winning the race to 5G, stressing how important the technology will be to the United States Space Force (USSF). Essentially, the US Space Force requires 5G technology in order to move forward and complete missions before other countries.
And Lieutenant General David Thompson, one of the new commanders of the US Space Force, said that “5G is as important to the future of the Space Force as it is to the Air Force”.
This puts China and Huawei in the 5G spotlight once again, with accusations that the pair could be a significant global threat.
Upping its 5G game
“At the end of the day, I think we need to be clear-eyed that what the Chinese are trying to do with 5G."
US Air Force General Jeffrey Harrigian.
“We need to up our game in 5G,” explained Air Force acquisition officer Will Roper. “As more autonomy moves to the edge of the internet of things, it's going to have to be supported by more bandwidth. It would be a shame if something that is going to control most of the data moving from machine to machine commercializes first overseas.”
Huawei and China’s strong 5G presence is a concern for the military as it could potentially undermine operations. And as the US military will begin to rely more on 5G connectivity, it can't risk having China involved in building out American infrastructure using Chinese-made tech from the likes of Huawei.
“At the end of the day, I think we need to be clear-eyed that what the Chinese are trying to do with 5G. It’s something that globally we need to pay attention to because that’s a threat that frankly if you don’t pay attention to it you’re going to get yourself in a square corner,” said US Air Force General Jeffrey Harrigian.
Both the military and the Space Force are therefore backing Trump on his decision to ban Huawei from providing 5G technology. The main fear is that China could sabotage both military operations and space missions, both of which will come to rely on 5G technology in coming years.
