Airbus and Telefónica won Collaboration of the Year at our Aerospace Tech Review Awards in April 2025 for their innovations in 5G connectivity. Working with the Spanish Air and Space Force, the project connected aircraft with servers on the ground to transmit medical data more effectively.
To get the lowdown on the collaboration, Aerospace Tech Review caught up with Carlos Gómez, Research and Technology Project Leader for Airbus Defence and Space. He explained how improving 5G connectivity was essential for the Spanish Air and Space Force to provide more effective communications.
5G brings three major advantages: ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, and the ability to connect thousands of devices simultaneously. This allows information to be exchanged across different domains — land, sea, air, and space — and enables more co-ordinated and informed decision-making.
Airbus and Telefónica each brough different strengths to the project: Airbus’s contributed engineering expertise for the installation of comms equipment, while Telefónica provided the necessary 5G infrastructure. In tests, the system worked successfully to transmit medical data, offering potential lifelines of support in an emergency scenario.
Using medical sensors on the aircraft, we could send information from the patient to a hospital, where the doctor could see the rate of the patient in real time. We also performed a video conference test between the aircraft and a military base.
The future of connectivity
With further investment taking place to make the solution even more advanced, the project is set to evolve and explore 5G use in applications beyond telemedicine. Gómez sees 6G as the next big transformation that Airbus has its eye on for future connectivity.
6G will bring new dimensions like integrated sensing, communication, AI, even integration with terrestrial aerospace systems. This will allow near real-time situational awareness, autonomous decision-making, and resilient communication even in the most challenging environments.
The collaboration stands as testament to what can be achieved when the aerospace industry combines its strengths to deliver effective solutions. Gómez concludes:
For us, this Aerospace Tech Review Award is more than just recognition. It’s a reminder of what is possible when passionate and professional people come together. It gives us more motivation to keep innovating.
🎥 Watch the full interview to hear the full story behind Airbus and Telefónica’s award-winning collaboration.
Questions asked include:
- How did you go about developing your 5G solution? How did Telefonica and Airbus combine their strengths?
- What lessons did both Telefonica and Airbus learn from working together?
- What results did you achieve? What successes did you see in testing and application?
- Will your 5G solution be expanded for use in other applications/used by other countries? How would you like to improve it in the future?
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