US-Made 5G Radio Signals New Era for American Telecom Innovation

PLANO, Texas – February 18, 2026 – In a significant stride toward rebuilding America's telecommunications manufacturing prowess, Fortress Solutions today announced the completion of the first U.S.-designed and assembled Open RAN radio unit. This achievement, realized in partnership with Airspan Networks Inc., represents a critical milestone for a federally funded initiative aimed at securing the nation's wireless supply chain and fostering domestic innovation for 5G and beyond.

The radio unit was developed under the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (PWSCIF), a program designed to break the global stranglehold of a few dominant equipment vendors by promoting open, interoperable network technologies.

A Milestone for American Telecom Sovereignty

The completion of this radio is more than a technical success; it's a tangible outcome of a strategic national effort to enhance telecom supply chain resilience. The PWSCIF program, from which Airspan was awarded a $42.7 million grant in 2024, aims to accelerate the development of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technologies. Open RAN architecture allows carriers to "mix and match" hardware and software from various vendors, a stark contrast to the proprietary, closed ecosystems offered by traditional suppliers.

This initiative directly addresses long-standing concerns about national security and economic dependency on foreign technology. By cultivating a domestic ecosystem for designing, manufacturing, and testing critical 5G components, the U.S. government hopes to create a more competitive, secure, and resilient market. The NTIA's program specifically targets the commercialization and innovation of Open Radio Units (RUs), with Fortress and Airspan's project falling under the fund's focus on accelerating products to meet carrier needs and be ready for commercial trials.

"Completing the first O-RAN radio unit is a major achievement not just for Fortress Solutions and Airspan, but for the advancement of U.S.-based Open RAN innovation," said John Shelnutt, CEO of Fortress Solutions. "Our engineering, manufacturing, and integration capabilities are enabling faster development cycles, deeper technical collaboration, and meaningful progress toward a more secure and resilient wireless ecosystem."

The Engineering Behind the Innovation

This project marks a significant evolution for Fortress Solutions, elevating its role from a logistics and support contractor to a core engineering partner. Initially tasked with component procurement and basic assembly, the company's responsibilities have expanded dramatically, showcasing its growing technical depth and operational agility.

Fortress's expanded contributions now include fundamental hardware and software development, such as:

• Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design and fabrication support: Moving beyond assembly to influencing the core electronic blueprint of the radio unit.
• Software and Firmware development: Creating the essential code needed to support rigorous validation testing, a critical step in ensuring the hardware functions as intended.
• Engineering failure analysis: Systematically diagnosing and resolving technical issues, a key capability for refining a product from prototype to commercial-grade maturity.

This vertical integration of skills allows the partnership to operate with greater speed and efficiency. By handling complex engineering tasks domestically, the team can shorten development cycles, iterate on designs more quickly, and build a deep institutional knowledge base within the U.S. This hands-on involvement is crucial for turning the promise of Open RAN into a market reality.

Navigating the Complex Open RAN Landscape

The Fortress-Airspan milestone arrives at a pivotal moment for the global Open RAN market. While long-term projections are bullish, with some analysts forecasting a compound annual growth rate over 30% through the next decade, the near-term landscape is challenging. Market research from firms like Dell'Oro Group noted a slowdown in 2023 and 2024, reflecting the broader downturn in the Radio Access Network (RAN) sector and the persistent hurdles to Open RAN adoption.

Major barriers include ensuring seamless interoperability between components from different vendors, meeting the stringent performance and latency demands of 5G networks, and managing the security complexities of a more distributed architecture. Furthermore, the market remains dominated by a handful of large, established players, making it difficult for new entrants to gain significant traction.

The work being done by Fortress and Airspan directly confronts these challenges. By developing and validating a complete radio unit under one collaborative U.S.-based effort, they aim to prove the viability and performance of domestically produced Open RAN solutions. Their success is a proof point that the technology is maturing rapidly, a trend also noted in the NTIA's own "5G Challenge" tests.

"This milestone reflects the strength of our partnership with Fortress and our mutual commitment to accelerating Open RAN radio development in the U.S.," said Glenn Laxdal, CEO of Airspan. "With support from the NTIA Innovation Fund, we are creating high-performance, next-generation radio units that unlock new capability and interoperability for 5G and beyond."

The completed radio unit will undergo further evaluation to meet NTIA program milestones and will serve as the foundational design for a series of additional Open RAN radios planned under the grant. This iterative approach is key to building a robust and competitive product portfolio. The fruits of this labor will be showcased to the global telecom industry at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from March 2-5, 2026, where the O-RAN radio units will be on display.