The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) selected Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) Albany, Georgia, to be one of five Tranche 1 sites for the Department of Defense’s 5G to Next G Initiative. 

Marine Force Storage Command (MFSC), a subordinate command to Marine Corps Logistics Command (MARCORLOGCOM), operates an existing warehouse onboard MCLB Albany that will become the prototype for a smart warehouse system-of-systems enabled by 5G technology.  

The prototype smart warehouse will act as a proving ground for testing, refining, and validating emerging 5G enabled systems via at-scale prototypes. The Marine Corps’ expected outcomes from this experiment include increases to the efficiency and fidelity of MARCORLOGCOM logistics and warehouse operations, including improvements to receipt, storage, issuance, inventory control and auditability of materiel and supplies that will directly support the Fleet Marine Force (FMF).

In collaboration with selected industry partners, the 5G Smart Warehouse initiative will deliver a flexible open-standards 5G testbed, various network enhancements, and warehouse specific applications through a phased approach.  5G key capability features will include autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence, zero trust architectures, modernized human systems interfaces, multiple-input multiple-output antenna technology, and a resilient enhanced positioning network. 

Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic will lead the technical assessment and perform network and application testing and evaluations to ensure the deployed 5G technologies and smart warehouse applications meet Naval and OUSD (R&E) expectations. 

MARCORLOGCOM, MFSC, and MCLB Albany will support the implementation and execution of the experiments to help ensure that experiments realize Marine Corps logistics operational efficiencies. The Marine Corps 5G Community of Interest, led by IC4, Headquarters Marine Corps, Deputy Commandant for Information, will consolidate, share, and manage the results, risks, opportunities, and lessons learned through this and other Marine Corps 5G prototype initiatives, facilitating faster, smarter, and more effective adoption of emerging 5G technologies.