The iPhone and iPod touch could soon become a battlefield tool with new apps created by defense contractor Raytheon, the world’s largest producer of guided missiles. The company has announced it is developing apps to help soldiers track friends and foes alike, putting a strategic military twist on crowd sourcing. The New York Times reports:
For instance, crowdsourcing, which has volunteers use cellphones to report real-time traffic flow, could be adapted to turn each soldier into a reporting unit, delivering real-time data about position and status.
….Field information would be transmitted back to a central computer that would crunch the data, update it and push it back out to the soldiers. “This is hypothetical, but if there is a building with known terrorist activities, it could automatically be pushed to the phone when the soldiers get near that area,” said Mr. Smart.
Live information could also be used to reduce tactical errors and friendly fire incidents. “If there was another platoon that was supposed to arrive, and they were delayed, or ahead of schedule, you could adapt your plan,” said Mr. Smart. “If one of the units you are counting on is redirected, you know that in real time.”
Raytheon also stated they are working on apps for aircraft controllers to practice their skills outside of the control tower. On their website, Raytheon stated the apps would be:
Training modules running on iPhone that allow air traffic controllers to practice aircraft vectoring and separation exercises on the small screen and at their convenience outside of traditional classroom training environments.
We can save them some time. Try Flight Control.