IN-DEPTH: Pentagon, Wireless Telecoms on Different Wavelengths in Plan to ‘Share’ Frequencies

For decades, DOD has had access to electromagnetic spectrum frequencies not shared with commercial users. That changed with 2018’s advent of 5G. Now, the Pentagon’s frequencies are in the “Goldilocks spectrum.”

A contract crew for Verizon works on a cell tower to update it to handle the new 5G network in Orem, Utah, on Dec. 10, 2019. George Frey/AFP via Getty Images

It’s omnipresent yet finite, invisible but ambient. It’s the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), a range of electromagnetic frequencies that radiate in wavelengths and photon energies to flip on lights, to beam voices through radios, to track threats with radar, to function in nearly any capacity in the contemporary world.

Each EMS frequency range avails itself to different uses. Lower frequencies are best for transmitting radio waves across long distances; taking X-rays is a common use for higher frequencies.