Rebecca Grant
The U.S. military is heading for a big, new problem with its radars. To meet soaring demand for TikTok videos and other apps running on 5G, Congress is under pressure to sell off prime slices of the radio wave spectrum at a frequency location called S-band – thereby forcing military defense systems to cozy up and “share” with commercial wireless companies.
S-band radars are already part of the missile warning for Alaska and the new system in Hawaii. Guam’s enhanced 360-degree defense, now under construction, also depends on S-band. As threats grow, S-band radars will be integral to protecting the continental United States, too.
If Congress authorizes the FCC to sell licenses for the segments of S-band used by the military, the results could be catastrophic – and very costly to remedy.
Military radars have been integral to operations since early in World War II, and they’ve gotten better with each decade. Major types of military equipment use different frequency bands on the electromagnetic spectrum. High-power, low-frequency radars track distant objects. Shorter waves at higher frequencies take over for finesse tasks like fire control. All bands have their functions. C-Band is medium range, X-Band is for short range, Ku-Band is for close-in support, and so on.
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