NATO’s largest research and testing event for new defence technologies, the Digital Backbone Experiment (DiBaX 2025), concluded on November 7 in Latvia after two weeks of field experiments. This year’s event focused on how communication networks, artificial intelligence, and unmanned systems can work together in complex operational environments. For the second year, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence supported the exercise by providing integral networking functions as a foundation for the execution of military use cases.
Organising exercises and developing their content, as well as participating in external exercises, are key components of CCDCOE’s value-added research. In the field of 5G, the Centre is studying options for collaboration between allies’ 5G military networks, with a primary focus on interconnection solutions and their cybersecurity posture.
During DiBaX 2025, NATO CCDCOE’s 5G testbed was serving as an integral part, providing radio network sharing and roaming functions. “Our presence was primarily based on commercial vendors’ components and solutions, therefore proving maturity and standardised security of provided capabilities. We provided ultra-low latency to the end-users’ data, and our solutions proved to be stable across the period of exercise,” commented Mattias Männi, NATO CCDCOE 5G Program Manager.
NATO CCDCOE continues its research in the field of 5G and is consistently integrating 5G system components into its flagship exercises, Locked Shields and Crossed Swords.