NATO’s DiBaX 2026 exercise in Latvia tested three different uses of commercial 5G, and only one involved passive sensing with ordinary cell towers. AT&T and Ericsson held a separate drone-detection demonstration in Texas, where multiple drones were reported detected, located and tracked within network coverage.
DiBaX tested three different functions
The NATO exercise ran in Latvia from October 19 to 30, 2026. Its three tracks addressed different tasks: sensing objects moving through cell-tower coverage, reserving commercial 5G capacity for military communications, and switching communications paths when one was jammed.
| DiBaX track | What it tested |
| Passive tower sensing | Ordinary commercial 5G cell towers used as passive sensors for objects moving through their coverage. |
| Secured private network slice | A reserved, secured portion of a host country’s commercial 5G network for military command and data links. |
| Communications-path switching | Automatically switching among communication paths when one was jammed, including radio, satellite links and troposcatter. |
Only the first track involved tower-based sensing. A private network slice and backup communications paths address connectivity; they are distinct from using towers to sense movement.
Vandier described an engagement and AI-assisted interoperability
NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Pierre Vandier said a drone took off in Lithuania, crossed into Latvia and was engaged there by a counter-drone system. He also described agentic AI helping connect systems that had not been designed to communicate, including a Maven system and a national system.
That AI work concerned interoperability: getting separate systems to exchange information. Vandier’s account describes it separately from the tower-sensing track.
AT&T and Ericsson demonstrated drone detection in Texas
In Arlington, Texas, AT&T and Ericsson demonstrated 5G-based drone detection and tracking near AT&T Stadium, according to Ericsson’s announcement. The demonstration account described multiple drones being detected, located and tracked within network coverage. The reported flight altitude was 300–400 feet, or about 91–122 meters.
Qualcomm’s separate demonstration shows another sensing approach
In a separate 2025 demonstration, Qualcomm used a 3.5 GHz 5G Advanced massive-MIMO setup with a full-duplex base station. It transmitted reference signals, analyzed their reflections and examined micro-Doppler patterns, which capture movement-related changes in the reflected signal. Qualcomm said its controlled demonstration achieved 100% detection accuracy at distances up to 300 meters. Those figures belong to that demonstration, not the DiBaX or Texas trials.
