HOME - 2nd Military 5G Conference 2026: Accelerating Readiness through Innovation and Collaboration

Event Overview

Building on the success of the inaugural Military 5G Conference in 2025, the 2nd Annual Military 5G Conference will bring together military leaders, government representatives, NATO organizations, industry experts, researchers, and technology innovators to explore how 5G and next-generation network technologies can enhance defence capabilities, interoperability, resilience, and operational readiness.

Organized within the framework of the Multinational Collaboration on 5G (MN5G) Project orchestrated by the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), the conference serves as a unique forum for sharing strategic insights, technical advances, operational experiences, and collaborative initiatives shaping the future of military communications.

The conference will take place on 20 November 2026 at Fuar İzmir, Türkiye, collocated with NATO Edge 26.

Event Registrations for the 2nd Military 5G Conference 2026 open on 30 September 2026.

Why Attend?

The defence sector is increasingly evaluating how commercial and dual-use technologies can be adapted to address military challenges while improving efficiency, interoperability, and capability development. Military 5G, and the evolution towards future 6G-enabled capabilities, offers new opportunities for secure communications, networked operations, automation, sensing, spectrum management, and coalition interoperability.

This conference provides an opportunity to:

Learn from national military 5G programmes and initiatives across NATO and Partner Nations.
Understand NATO's ongoing activities related to military applications of 5G and next-generation networking technologies.
Explore emerging operational, tactical, and strategic use cases.
Exchange lessons learned from experimentation, capability development, and deployment activities.
Engage directly with decision-makers, technical specialists, military operators, industry leaders, and researchers.
Identify opportunities for multinational collaboration and future participation in MN5G activities.

Conference Themes

Accelerating Readiness through Innovation and Collaboration

Discussions will focus on how governments, NATO organizations, academia, and industry can work together to accelerate the adoption of advanced communications capabilities while addressing operational, technical, security, and interoperability challenges.

Military 5G Programmes and Strategies

National, NATO, and multinational initiatives advancing 5G-enabled defence capabilities, including experimentation, operationalization, and long-term strategic roadmaps.

Capability Development and Operational Use Cases

Practical applications of 5G technologies in military environments, including battlefield communications, situational awareness, logistics, sensing, command and control, and coalition operations.

Standards and Interoperability

The role of 3GPP standards, NATO activities, and international collaboration in creating interoperable, scalable, and resilient military communication ecosystems.

Security and Resilience

Security architectures, spectrum management, network protection, and operation in contested, congested, degraded, and disconnected environments.

Emerging Technologies

The convergence of 5G with artificial intelligence, cloud computing, non-terrestrial networks (NTN), integrated sensing and communications (ISAC), and future 6G developments.

Check out the full programme here

Audience Requirements

The conference is designed for:

Defence ministries and governmental organizations
NATO bodies and agencies
Military communications and CIS specialists
Capability development and innovation teams
Spectrum and cyber security experts
Defence industry representatives
Telecommunications and network technology vendors and providers
Research institutions and academia
Multinational programme stakeholders
International Telecommunications bodies

MN5G and NCIA reserve the right to decline applications based on NATO security protocol, venue availability and audience requirements. Only nationals from the 32 NATO member countries and selected Partner Nations (Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine) will be admitted.

Supporting the MN5G Community

The Military 5G Conference is a key forum within the broader MN5G initiative, helping build a community of practice around the military adoption of 5G technologies and future network capabilities.

The event provides an environment where Nations, NATO organizations, and industry partners can exchange ideas, identify common challenges, share best practices, and explore future opportunities for collaboration.

Join the Conversation

Be part of the dialogue shaping the future of military communications, digital transformation, and multinational interoperability. Whether you are developing policies, building capabilities, conducting research, or delivering innovative technologies, the 2nd Annual Military 5G Conference offers a unique platform to connect, collaborate, and contribute.

Accelerating Readiness through Innovation and Collaboration.

This conference will be held at NATO UNCLASSIFIED level.

For security and access guidelines, please visit our Access Information page.