Michael Griffin: DoD Research & Engineering Office Makes 5G a Top Priority

Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, said that 5G deployment is one of the technology programs being prioritized by his office, C4ISRNET reported Monday. 

“What we’re trying to do in the department with 5G is to make available our, broadly speaking, requirement set, whether it be depots or ports or airfields or autonomous vehicles or so on,” he told reporters at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.

Griffin said Lisa Porter, deputy defense undersecretary for R&E, will spearhead 5G-related efforts and that he expects funds to be allocated for the technology in the budget for fiscal year 2021.

“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,” Griffin said. “This is a major initiative for us. It ties in, hand in glove, to the microelectronics initiative that I mentioned very briefly. We need trusted and assured microelectronics. So all of that ties together.”