The Pentagon wants wireless networks that can also act as sensors, and it is paying a mix of telecom carriers, defense primes, startups and universities to build working versions of them. AT&T, Leidos, Nokia Federal, Peraton and IBM are among the organizations set to build next-generation wireless prototypes that let networks double as sensors, under more than $50 million in new awards backed by the Pentagon's FutureG Office, ExecutiveGov reported. The National Spectrum Consortium (NSC) selected 11 teams on Tuesday, Nov. 3, for the Real-world Application Prototyping for ISAC Demonstrations program, known as RAPID.
The FutureG Office, part of the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, is funding the work. Nearly 30 companies and universities sit on the 11 teams, and about two-thirds of those participants are small or nontraditional defense contractors, according to ExecutiveGov.
Who Is on the 11 RAPID ISAC Teams?
AT&T shows up twice. It leads its own team with Ericsson, and it also serves as a subcontractor on Nokia Federal's team, which includes Future Tech, Texas Tech University, DeepSig and Hidden Level, ExecutiveGov reported. Leidos is working with Tiami Networks. Peraton Labs, Peraton's research and development arm, is partnering with Nexcepta. IBM sits on a team led by Texas A&M University, alongside the University of California San Diego and Northrop Grumman.
BriefGlance, which covered the selections on Nov. 3, also lists Northeastern University among the participating institutions and names Altio Labs, alongside Tiami Networks and DeepSig, among the smaller engineering firms working next to legacy primes such as Northrop Grumman and Leidos. Neither outlet published the full list of all 11 teams or how the money splits among them.
Several of the companies have won NSC prototype work before. Leidos received $8.4 million in 2021 for a spectrum deconfliction effort, and Peraton Labs secured about $9.9 million in 2024 to develop a test range spectrum management system, ExecutiveGov noted.
What ISAC Asks a 6G Network to Do
Integrated sensing and communications turns a wireless network into a sensor as well as a communications link. A network built this way can detect objects and gauge where they are and how fast they are moving. The FutureG Office expects the technology to play a major part in the emerging 6G standard and to add new capabilities to both military and commercial networks.
BriefGlance describes ISAC as the technology that lets a single radio frequency system act as both a high-speed data conduit and a precision radar. It notes that military platforms have historically needed separate hardware arrays for communications and radar, and that ISAC could collapse those requirements. For carriers and equipment makers, BriefGlance says the same capability could support industrial automation, autonomous vehicle navigation and smart city infrastructure. Commercial standards bodies are still studying ISAC. BriefGlance notes that 3GPP is working through it in Release 19 and 20 study items. RAPID asks teams to put the concept into hardware and software now.
How the $50M Spectrum Forward OTA Award Runs
The awards flow through NSC's Spectrum Forward other transaction authority agreement. BriefGlance describes Spectrum Forward as a $2.5 billion mechanism established in 2020 to engage nontraditional contractors outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Because the work moves through an OTA rather than a FAR-based contract, companies that do not normally hold traditional defense contracts have an easier path onto a team.
The projects will run for 24 months in two phases. The first phase covers lab or field demonstrations. The second ends with prototypes meant for commercial and military deployment. Beyond funding each team, FutureG and NSC plan to connect ISAC development across the full RAPID portfolio and build a wider base of innovators working on software-driven, AI-powered networks, ExecutiveGov reported.
The awards follow a June call for prototype proposals. That call required technologies to work with the open-source Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit software baseline where needed. The requirement points the 11 efforts toward a common open software stack instead of letting each team build on a proprietary base.
What FutureG's Rondeau and NSC's Kochan Said
Dr. Tom Rondeau, principal director for FutureG, framed RAPID as a move from research papers to working hardware. “The RAPID program represents a critical shift from theoretical 6G concepts to tangible, software-defined prototypes,” he said, as quoted by ExecutiveGov.
BriefGlance quoted a longer passage from the official announcement in which Rondeau set out the goal: “Our goal is to rapidly transition these ISAC capabilities from the lab into the hands of our warfighters and commercial partners.”
NSC CEO Joe Kochan pointed to the consortium's membership as the draw. “This investment brings together a community of wireless researchers and engineers that will learn from each other and reinforce and accelerate successful ISAC development efforts,” Kochan said, according to BriefGlance.
FutureG's $500M Budget Starting in FY2027
RAPID is not the only money FutureG has to spend. The office is preparing to put to work the $500 million it received under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which becomes available starting in fiscal year 2027, according to ExecutiveGov. That is roughly ten times the RAPID award total. Neither source says how the office will divide the $500 million or whether it will run that money through the Spectrum Forward agreement.
What It Means for Contractors
RAPID shows how the FutureG Office bought this round of work: through a consortium OTA, with teams that mix carriers, primes, startups and universities, and with a requirement to build on a shared open-source baseline. Firms that want a piece of the FY2027 money should study that pattern now, though neither source says the $500 million will be awarded the same way.
- NSC membership likely matters. The awards went through the National Spectrum Consortium's Spectrum Forward agreement, and Kochan credited NSC's member community. Companies outside the consortium should check whether they need to join before pursuing similar prototype work.
- Small and nontraditional firms have room. About two-thirds of RAPID participants fall into that category. Specialists in RF machine learning, sensing or waveform design can aim to join as team members without leading a prime-scale bid.
- Open baselines are part of the bar. The June call required compatibility with the Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit software baseline where needed. Firms whose products run only on closed radio stacks may struggle to qualify for similar future calls.
- Watch the 24-month clock. Phase-two prototypes are aimed at military and commercial deployment. Teams that show working ISAC capability may be well placed if FutureG later directs its $500 million toward similar work.
- Dual-use may pay twice. BriefGlance argues that telecom heavyweights such as AT&T, Ericsson and Nokia Federal are using defense-funded prototypes to de-risk commercial 6G. Vendors with a commercial telecom roadmap may be able to use OTA work to fund early development.
The sources reviewed do not give per-team dollar figures, so contractors tracking competitors should watch for follow-on NSC releases and team announcements as phase one begins.
