Army Tests Mobile Ad Hoc Network in African Lion 26 Exercise

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ramon N. Leonguerrero presented a capabilities brief on the Mobile Ad Hoc Network–Cloud High Mobility Radio system to Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll at Southern Zone Headquarters in Agadir, Morocco on May 1, 2026.

The demonstration took place inside U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual joint exercise. African Lion 26 ran from April 20 to May 8, 2026, across Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia. It drew more than 5,600 civilian and military personnel from more than 40 nations and is led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa.

The proof of concept shifts from siloed national sensor networks to a unified common operational picture. Allied and partner sensors now feed directly into shared data streams, allowing faster collective decision-making. The system was tested in the field during the exercise that concluded on May 8, 2026.

The change triggers immediate follow-on requirements for partner militaries to evaluate integration of their existing sensors with the Mobile Ad Hoc Network architecture. U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa must compile test data and deliver interoperability findings to U.S. Africa Command.

Participating nations will next decide on procurement or doctrinal adjustments to maintain compatibility with the shared network. The exercise also sets a baseline for similar technology insertions in future African Lion iterations scheduled for 2027.

This marks the first documented test of the Mobile Ad Hoc Network–Cloud High Mobility Radio system inside African Lion. The annual exercise has grown from a bilateral U.S.-Morocco event into a multilateral platform that routinely incorporates new command-and-control tools to support partner-led regional security.