Ericsson is back in the defence segment. Over lunch at Eurosatory and coffee at DALO Industry Days, Joachim Hammersland, Global Head of Solution Area Defence, explains why the company is now once again investing in the defence market and what role it could play on the battlefield of the future.

The trip to DALO Industry Days is sponsored by BAE Systems Bofors

Could you briefly introduce yourself, and what you bring to Ericsson?

"I was very clear that I didn't have a heavy telecoms background when I started," says Joachim Hammersland.

He raised this directly with Per Narvinger, Ericsson's incoming President and CEO and current head of the Networks business area. Narvinger was not concerned, Hammersland recounts: there were already 90,000 other people at the company with telecoms backgrounds.

"It's my thirty-plus years in the defence industry that have been decisive in why I'm joining Ericsson today."

His background includes 22 years at Saab, five years at BAE Systems Hägglunds, MW Group, and most recently W5 Solutions. What he brings with him, he says, is an understanding of how defence deals are actually done.

"Defence business differs somewhat from the way Ericsson has built its efficient machine for creating telecoms business. That's where I have a lot of experience to bring. I think that's why they hired me."

Ericsson sold its defence operations to Saab in the 2000s. Now you're taking a major step back into the defence segment, moving away from dual use and into dedicated defence. Is this mainly about leveraging the existing product portfolio, or developing something new?

"I should perhaps correct you on one point," says Hammersland. "Ericsson's products are primarily developed for civilian mobile networks and have long been classified as dual use, but with 5G there is significant potential within the defence sector. What we need to look at now is whether our dual use policy will continue to support our business, or whether we need to review it. But a great deal of what Ericsson does today is extremely relevant to defence as well."

Ericsson's existing defence business is built on private 5G networks, or sliced sections of public networks, with connectivity up to secret classification level, and the company has agreements with the armed forces of a number of countries. Beyond that, the company is now working in two new directions.

"One is sensing: using 5G technology as a radar system," he says. "Above all, we're looking at detecting small drones flying fast and at low altitude. Our first trials show that the technology is already extremely effective, and it builds on technology Ericsson already has."

The second track is tactical communications: mobile, deployable 5G that can move with units, with coverage enhancement, and with resilient and secure connectivity.

What will your role specifically involve, and how will you reach the market?

"I lead a global organisation whose entire purpose is to review and expand Ericsson's defence business," Hammersland explains.

It's about making the best use of what Ericsson already has, while building bridges where the company needs to work differently, and supporting the company's market areas and country units in approaching the defence market worldwide, starting from the home market of Sweden and perhaps the United States. The route to the customer runs in several directions at once, he explains.

"We need to talk to the end users and understand the needs of the Armed Forces. In some cases, ministries of defence will handle procurement directly with Ericsson. In other cases we'll go through systems integration partners who have command and control systems and effectors that we don't have, while we offer the sensors, in this case 5G-based sensors. And we'll also work with the operators. There's no question about that."

Last year the North Star project was introduced, together with Telia and the Swedish Armed Forces. What was that, and what did you learn?

"The telecom operators have fantastic infrastructure," says Hammersland.

What Telia and the Swedish Armed Forces did together with Ericsson was to make use of much of the existing Swedish telecoms infrastructure, but with separate cores, a dedicated network, so that sufficiently secret and classified information can be sent without risk of information leakage.

"This is what we call the Nordic model. We're noticing here at Eurosatory that other operators are very interested in it."

He distinguishes between two domains. Strategic 5G is the fixed infrastructure, often with national coverage, the backbone of the communications network. Tactical 5G is the mobile element, closer to the front line. Previously there was also talk of operational 5G, but that complicates the picture, he argues, and Ericsson prefers to stick to strategic and tactical.

NATO has communication links such as Link 16 and Link 22. Does 5G compete with them, or are they meant to work together?

"Here we need to be extremely humble," says Hammersland. "There isn't just one correct technology. NATO's (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) absolutely most important communication links will continue to exist and develop."

Ericsson's contribution lies elsewhere, he argues: creating simple, accessible and secure connectivity on the battlefield, with enough broadband capacity for AI computation, downloading satellite imagery, and rapid situational awareness updates.

Ukraine has demonstrated an extremely electronically contested environment. How does 5G hold up under heavy jamming?

"There are now 58,000 electronic warfare soldiers in Ukraine," says Hammersland. "There were periods when we in the West had almost forgotten to think about the signal spectrum, but it is highly relevant now."

5G technology is already robust, he says. With active beamforming in the radio units, it is possible to steer communications and create silent sectors, but also to quickly detect jamming, shut down those sectors, and relocate the deployable systems.

"With the signal processing technology Ericsson has, the entire electronic warfare spectrum is extremely interesting for us."

Sweden recently joined NATO. Does that change the conditions on the defence side?

"Federating networks, as it's nicely put in NATO terminology, is what we at Ericsson call roaming," says Hammersland. "And that's exactly what we're good at."

NATO is also driving much of the development towards 5G and 6G, both strategically and tactically.

"I truly believe that NATO membership only benefits Ericsson. There are no downsides to it whatsoever."

If we meet again at Eurosatory in 2028, how will you measure whether you've done the right things?

"The proof is in the pudding: it comes down to the commercial results," says Hammersland. "We have to show the market that this is good enough technology to be worth investing in."

Both in sensing and in tactical communications, solid customer reference cases are needed, he says, ideally several tactical 5G systems that can federate with one another. He even hopes to be able to demonstrate this on site next time, and perhaps solve a more down-to-earth problem along the way.

"It would be a good business opportunity to offer indoor coverage at this venue. The coverage here really is terrible," says Joachim Hammersland, laughing.

Beyond 5G, Ericsson is looking at the entire communications spectrum, he adds. Tactical communications isn't just about 5G, but also about integrating radios across other frequency bands, and about connecting units via satellite, so-called non-terrestrial networks (NTN), where ground-based networks are not sufficient.

And then there's the electronic warfare domain. This is opening up for Ericsson, Hammersland argues, precisely thanks to the company's strength in signal processing, the same core expertise that makes 5G networks difficult to jam.

"Ericsson is perhaps the company in Europe, maybe in the world, that is best at signal processing."