US-headquartered mobility solutions provider Social Mobile has secured a contract to develop a next-generation 5G mobile solution for the US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).

The contract has been awarded as part of the Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the US Department of Air Force’s (DAF) innovation arm AFWERX.

As part of this contract, the company will work in close coordination with the US DAF to design, develop and deliver purpose-built handheld and chest mountable devices for the warfighters. It will be used to support a wide range of military operations.

The device will use the Android Enterprise ecosystem and will be built according to military-grade standards and specifications.

Once developed, the new 5G mobile solution will focus on exploring and investigating its capacity to bridge the existing capability gap in the US AFSOC.

Social Mobile CEO and founder Robert Morcos said: “Building on the success of the previous contract, we look forward to working side-by-side with the Department of the Air Force to develop a mobile solution that meets the needs of their operations today as well as in the future.

“Our solution will be lighter and more durable than their current device, and offer more hands-free capabilities, all while taking full advantage of Android Enterprise with respect to security, features, and updates.”

Social Mobile uses the Android operating system to design, engineer and develop turnkey, mobility-as-a-service deployments that provide a smart solution to its customers to support a variety of mission-critical operations.

RIVA Networks and JMA Wireless recently won a contract to provide private 5G capabilities at the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s Rome Research Site.