U.S. Military Designing Apps For Field Use
October 27, 2010
Your enemy is difficult to spot in the night. The terrain is also tough to maneuver around. But, if you turn slightly to the left and get closer to the target, you might get a better shot. The newest “shoot 'em up” game for an Apple device? Nope, this is real life. The U.S. military, and many of its contractors are starting to design iPhone/iPod touch and iPad apps for use in actual combat.
Back in March, the Army held its first ever app contest. During this time, according to Wired Magazine, 53 war planning apps were submitted to the military. The main goal: to design apps that would make it easier for U.S. soldiers to hunt and fight enemies in the field.
Now, the seeds planted months ago are starting to grow. Textron Systems and Raytheon, among other military contractors are designing apps for actual battle.
According to Wired:
The above display on the iPad of a Textron Systems employee shows a map of friendly and hostile locations — the blue houses have U.S. troops in them — that soldiers can gather out in the field and send back to their command stations for further analysis. It’s running through SoldierEyes, a secure cloud that runs lots of little applets for intelligence, command-and-control and battlefield awareness, developed by two Textron subsidiaries, Overwatch and AAI.This is all very cool in design and promise. But, when you recognize that apps such as these will be used in actual battle, it makes you pause. You then understand how devices such as the iPad aren't just for game playing or reading. They could also be powerful instruments of war.
