Systems, devices, and techniques described herein are directed to a tactical wireless base station, and applications thereof. A tactical wireless base station may include a plurality of hardware or software radios configured to facilitate communication over any wireless protocol. The tactical wireless base station may be deployed on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to search for a wireless signal of a target user equipment (UE) corresponding to a lost hiker, for example, in an area out of range of traditional base stations, and/or to locate the target UE to convey the location to rescuers. In some instances, a tactical wireless base station can be deployed in a handheld device and may coordinate with other tactical wireless base stations in order to triangulate a location of user equipment. Further, the tactical wireless base stations may be deployed during network outages to provide indications of events, such as during emergencies.