United States
Australia
United Kingdom
Europe
New Zealand
Canada
Lockheed Martin and a group of commercial partners have demonstrated a new approach to detecting and tracking unmanned aircraft systems by turning existing 5G infrastructure into a wide-area sensing network. In a July trial in the Miami area, the NetSense Airspace Awareness-as-a-Service system identified, tracked and monitored drones using artificial intelligence running over Verizon’s 5G network, aiming to make counter-UAS coverage more accessible, faster to deploy and easier to scale with commercial off-the-shelf technologies.
The live test, conducted in a high-traffic urban area described as important for American protection, combined Verizon’s 5G spectrum, ODC’s AI-native radio access network software, NVIDIA’s AI Aerial platform and Keysight’s radio-frequency simulation tools. The system detected the presence of drones, issued alerts and maintained track custody throughout flight.
NetSense fuses Lockheed Martin warning and tracking systems that use AI to interpret RF signal disturbances, predict flight paths and automate real-time alerts. The companies highlight advantages tied to commercial components and open architectures, including faster procurement and deployment, lower costs, integration with new interceptors and technologies without new hardware, and scalability from single sites to mobile command-and-control for larger operations. The demonstration showed NetSense can sense drones without changing existing cellular radio deployments, an approach the team positions as cost-effective at scale ahead of future 6G Integrated Sensing and Communications. The system is designed to complement 6G ISAC when available and has a roadmap for broader deployment across 5G and future 6G networks.
“As drones become more affordable and accessible, airspace awareness technology needs to evolve rapidly to outpace potential threats. That’s why we developed the NetSense solution,” said Sarah Hiza, senior vice president, Technology and Strategic Innovation at Lockheed Martin. “By working within the established 5G network spectrum, we’re able to collaborate with the commercial technology industry and deploy a solution that’s ready at the time of need.”
“By applying AI to the RF signal measurement data already traversing our 5G infrastructure, we can effectively turn our network into an intelligent sensing platform,” said Anil Guntupali, senior vice president of Technology and Product Development at Verizon. “By collaborating with Lockheed Martin to apply intelligence to our existing 5G spectrum, we’re proving that the most complex security problems often have an answer embedded in the network.”
“The NetSense system demonstrates how AI can transform existing telecommunications infrastructure into a real-time sensing platform,” said Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice president of telecoms at NVIDIA. “NVIDIA AI Aerial and AI-RAN turn existing 5G infrastructure into an AI-powered sensing platform, bringing the power of AI and accelerated computing to the network edge, so RF signal disturbances can be analyzed instantaneously, enabling faster detection, more accurate classification and immediate alerts for public safety and critical infrastructure protection.”
“This strategic collaboration marks a decisive milestone in the evolution of joint Counter-UAS and layered homeland air defense for low-flying objects,” said Shaygan Kheradpir, chairman of the ODC board of directors. “By leveraging our AI-Native, Zero Trust AI-RAN platform, ODC enables true Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) via a standards-compliant commercial architecture — turning everyday mobile network infrastructure into an intelligent, wide-area sensor fabric that detects, tracks and identifies low-altitude threats at the forward edge via applications such as NetSense.”
The companies see broad applications across critical infrastructure, large events, utilities, and community locations such as schools, hospitals and airports, with city, state and federal customers able to receive proactive monitoring and alerts.
NetSense will be offered by subscription and interface with customers’ existing security operations. Pilot deployments are planned for the second half of 2026 and early 2027, with broader commercial availability targeted for 2027. Early rollouts will be limited to select customers with urgent needs, and interested organizations can contact Astris AI, Lockheed Martin’s wholly owned subsidiary.
