diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 03cbc144c7f9660c870a8ece1c8f77dcecf65e7e..5226e05c663c46c0203fb5e589391037941bb633 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2507,6 +2507,21 @@ if(ENABLE_TESTS)
   # meta-target: each test is supposed to add_dependencies(tests ${NEWTEST})
   # then, it is possible to build and execute all tests using "ninja tests && ctest"
   add_custom_target(tests)
+  find_package(GTest)
+  if (NOT GTest_FOUND)
+    message(STATUS "GTest package not found, will download googletest automatically. To prevent that install google test on your system (libgtest-dev)")
+    include(FetchContent)
+    FetchContent_Declare(
+      googletest
+      GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
+      GIT_TAG        58d77fa8070e8cec2dc1ed015d66b454c8d78850 # 1.12.1
+    )
+    set(BUILD_GMOCK OFF)
+    set(INSTALL_GTEST OFF)
+    FetchContent_MakeAvailable(googletest)
+    add_library(GTest::gtest ALIAS gtest)
+    add_library(GTest::gtest_main ALIAS gtest_main)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 add_subdirectory(common)
diff --git a/doc/UnitTests.md b/doc/UnitTests.md
index 6ea18e2280276e3f81215b78331ca1610ee0574d..d1bbbed0ae26338c30be4ac4103c9f62aea112b2 100644
--- a/doc/UnitTests.md
+++ b/doc/UnitTests.md
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ explaining how to test with cmake and ctest; it is a suggested read, and the
 following just lists the main points of how to compile the tests and how to add
 new ones.
 
-At the time of writing, only the NR RLC tests have been integrated. The author
-hopes that more tests follow suit.
+GoogleTest is a C++ unit testing framework that has been added as an external dependency. While using GoogleTest is not a requirement it can simplify writing unit tests.
+See [primer](http://google.github.io/googletest/primer.html) for a quick introduction. To add it to your test executable link against
+`GTest::gtest` or `GTest::gtest_main`.
 
 # How to compile tests