Newport News Shipbuilding has teamed up with Verizon to deploy 5G Ultra Wideband across its shipyards, aiming to modernize the shipbuilding process and improve connectivity for engineering and operations.
Leveraging 5G’s greater bandwidth and ultra-low latency, Newport News — a subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries — will upgrade its network capabilities to support demanding applications and test new ways to use augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). These technologies will be evaluated for a range of uses, including employee training, equipment maintenance, and architectural and systems design. “Adding this capability to our infrastructure will allow our workforce to have the right information, at the right time, and at the right location to perform their jobs,” said Bharat Amin, executive vice president of Huntington Ingalls.
Tami Erwin, executive vice president and CEO of Verizon Business Group, emphasized that the most significant early applications of 5G will appear in enterprise settings. “The first and most meaningful use cases for 5G will be in the enterprise space, and we’ve built our 5G network to support those truly differentiated experiences that will reshape entire industries,” she said. Brian Fields, vice president of business transformation at Newport News Shipbuilding, noted how 5G-connected AR headsets could transform workflows: engineers wearing AR goggles could overlay 3D drawings on physical structures or engage in real-time video collaboration with personnel working inside ships.
The collaboration is part of a broader trend of telecommunications providers and industrial companies piloting 5G for mission-critical and high-bandwidth tasks. Earlier this month, Australian telecommunications company Optus reported making what it described as the world’s first 5G data call using the 2300 MHz spectrum. That Sydney test utilized Ericsson equipment. Dennis Wong, Optus’s network managing director, said the 2300 MHz band will deliver higher speeds and deeper coverage, enabling more customers to access 5G services.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss these developments and explore real-world use cases? Industry events such as IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, Cyber Security & Cloud Expo, and the 5G Expo World Series host panels and demonstrations where companies share lessons learned and practical deployments across sectors. These conferences provide opportunities to see how 5G, AR/VR, cloud, security, and emerging technologies are being integrated into enterprise operations, including manufacturing, transportation, and defense-related shipbuilding.
By combining 5G connectivity with immersive tools and advanced networking, Newport News Shipbuilding hopes to accelerate decision-making, reduce errors, and improve the efficiency of complex tasks carried out in its shipyards. Trials will help determine which applications deliver the greatest operational benefits and how best to scale those capabilities across facilities, while ensuring security and reliability meet the stringent requirements of industrial and defense work.