DocM Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 AKA the US Army's proposed Android driven smarrphone for the battlespace. Something tells me this won't be using 3G/4G.... Ars.... The Army wants every soldier to carry a smartphone to stay networked. It doesn?t yet have a program for that, having spent the last year working through the implications of what it might mean to have such a system?like, for instance, what operating system would power it. An initial answer: Google?s Android.A prototype device running Android called the Joint Battle Command-Platform, developed by tech nonprofit MITRE, is undergoing tests. The development kit behind it, called the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment, will be released to app creators in July, the Army says. But until then, the envisioned apps for the Joint Battle Command-Platform will run a gambit of Army tasks. There will be a mapping function like the kinds the defense industry is developing for soldier smartphones and tablets. A Blue Force Tracker program will keep tabs on where friendly forces are. ?Critical messaging? will exchange crucial data like medevac requests and on the ground reporting. There are still a lot of questions to be answered about the Army?s smartphone effort, like how to keep data secure and how to use the devices effectively in combat environments with low connectivity. > Even when connected to a radio, the Army says its Joint Battle Command-Platform weighs about two pounds. That?s way lighter than the Nett Warrior suite of sensors, computers, radios and mapping functions?the Army?s program of record for doing much of what a smartphone already does. > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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