Project Fortis: Building a Digital Lifeline When All Else Fails

VIENNA, VA – July 20, 2026 – Our digital world is built on a paradox: we are more connected than ever, yet this connectivity is often profoundly fragile. A single fiber cut, a regional power outage, or the overwhelming network congestion during a natural disaster can sever the lines of communication precisely when they are most needed. Today, MidWave Wireless announced an ambitious plan to address this vulnerability with the launch of Project Fortis, a nationwide communications network designed to function as a resilient digital lifeline when primary systems fail.

The Invisible Safety Net

Modern LTE and 5G networks are marvels of engineering, delivering incredible speed and capacity under normal conditions. Their architecture, however, relies on a centralized model with fixed towers and backhaul connections to the wider internet. When this infrastructure is damaged or overwhelmed—as seen in the aftermath of hurricanes, wildfires, or even large-scale public events—the system grinds to a halt. For first responders, utility crews, and public officials, this loss of communication can be catastrophic.

Project Fortis aims to create an entirely new, complementary layer of connectivity that is not dependent on this centralized infrastructure. By leveraging military-proven technology and a unique portfolio of licensed radio spectrum, MidWave is building what its CEO, John Kneuer, calls a "resilience layer."

"Wireless networks are critical infrastructure," Kneuer stated in the announcement. "And while these networks continue to be hardened against natural and man-made disasters, no network can ensure 100% geographic and situational availability. Yet it's in response to these events that communications capabilities are most critical. Project Fortis introduces a complementary resilience layer that allows communications to continue when that infrastructure is impaired."

The initiative, already being deployed in 18 U.S. markets, is not designed to replace your everyday cell service. Instead, it acts as an invisible safety net. Under normal circumstances, it can integrate with and use traditional carrier networks. But when those networks go down, Project Fortis devices automatically switch to an autonomous, self-healing mode, creating localized communication bubbles that keep critical teams connected.

Forging Resilience from the Battlefield

The technological heart of Project Fortis is Mobile Ad Hoc Networking, or MANET. The concept is a radical departure from traditional hub-and-spoke networks. In a MANET, there is no central tower; every device (a radio, a vehicle, a sensor) acts as a node in the network, capable of receiving, sending, and relaying data. If one node goes offline, the network instantly and automatically reroutes traffic through other available nodes, making it inherently self-healing.

To bring this battlefield-tested capability to the civilian world, MidWave has partnered with TrellisWare Technologies, a company whose networking waveforms are the standard for U.S. Special Operations Command and other defense organizations. TrellisWare's core technology, the TSM waveform, uses a patented "Barrage Relay" system that is particularly well-suited for chaotic environments. It doesn't need to map the entire network; it simply floods a small area with the data packet, which is then relayed by any node that hears it, ensuring rapid and reliable delivery without the overhead of traditional routing protocols. This allows for massive scalability, with the ability to support over 800 devices in a single channel.

"TrellisWare was founded on the principle that reliable communications should not depend on the availability of fixed infrastructure," said Metin Bayram, Chief Executive Officer of TrellisWare Technologies. "For more than two decades, we have developed networking technologies that enable resilient communications in some of the world's most demanding operational environments. We are pleased that MidWave selected TrellisWare's technology as the foundation of Project Fortis."

This partnership brings a level of robustness previously unseen in commercial or public safety networks, promising secure voice, real-time video, and location tracking even in the most infrastructure-denied scenarios.

The Strategic Value of Spectrum

While MANET technology has existed for years, Project Fortis's implementation is unique for a critical reason: it operates on privately-owned, licensed spectrum. This is a crucial differentiator from common peer-to-peer solutions that use crowded, unlicensed bands like Wi-Fi, which are susceptible to interference.

MidWave Wireless, which rebranded from TerreStar Corporation in 2023, controls a vast and strategic portfolio of radio frequencies. The foundation of Project Fortis is its nationwide 1.4 GHz spectrum holdings—the largest such resource not controlled by a major carrier. This band, now standardized for 5G as Band n110, has propagation characteristics ideal for covering wide geographic areas and penetrating buildings, making it perfect for a nationwide emergency network. It provides a single, unified architecture that can be used across the entire United States.

In key metropolitan markets, MidWave is augmenting this with its 1.7 GHz spectrum assets. This spectrum, part of the AWS-3 block and integrated into the 5G n70 band class, more than doubles the network's capacity in dense urban centers where demand during a crisis would be highest. By combining these two licensed bands, MidWave can offer a clean, protected, and nationally consistent communications platform dedicated to mission-critical users.

A New Foundation for Critical Infrastructure

The immediate beneficiaries of Project Fortis are clear: public safety agencies, utility companies, and transportation systems. The ability to maintain push-to-talk communications, share situational awareness data, and track assets without relying on the public internet is a monumental step forward for disaster response and operational continuity. The network is designed to support everything from collaborative mapping for firefighters to sensor integration for utility grids.

But the vision for Project Fortis extends far beyond today's emergency services. By creating a nationwide, resilient data layer, MidWave is laying the groundwork for the next generation of critical applications. This includes coordinating fleets of autonomous vehicles and drones, managing the vast network of sensors that will make up the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and enabling new data services that require a guarantee of connectivity.

As deployments continue throughout 2026, the real-world impact of this invisible safety net will become increasingly apparent. Project Fortis represents a fundamental shift in how we think about communications infrastructure—not as a monolithic service that is either on or off, but as a dynamic, layered system where resilience is designed in from the ground up, ensuring that when we need to connect the most, we can.