U.S. Military Chose Android for Tactical Ops
The Defense Department has chosen Android to develop a smartphone network and military apps for soldiers out in the field.
The Defense Department has reportedly chosen Android to develop a smartphone framework and a suite of applications for use in tactical operations by the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps.
The Defense Department's Software Engineering Directorate is currently working on a two-pound device called the Joint Battle Command-Platform (or JBC-P Handheld)-- in essence a military-grade Android smartphone. Apps to be used on the device will allow soldiers to locate friendly forces, exchange "critical messaging" and other important tasks.
A prototype is currently being used by soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In a practice military scenario, Spc. Hao Bui demonstrated one of the uses of the device by pulling out the JBC-P Handheld smartphone from his uniform and entering the information of an "enemy" into an app, immediately transmitting warning graphics to his buddies and higher headquarters.
"If we see an enemy up front, we could put it in the GPS system," said Spc. Hao Bui, a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division. "Even though they (fellow Soldiers) can't see it, you can mark it for them."
Strangely enough, the military is going to allow external third parties to develop applications for the government-owned Android network (known as Mobile /Handheld Computing Environment) by releasing the development kit for free to the industry in July. By allowing this, the government can leverage fresh ideas and technology on a government-led, "disciplined" software environment.
"All of the research dollars are out there in the commercial market. All of the best minds are at work in these companies to produce these smartphones and this software," said Lt. Col. Mark Daniels, product manager for JBC-P. "We don't want to rehash that, we want to leverage it. We want to take advantage of it and get it out to the Soldier in a structured fashion, so it can be implemented in a way that is secure and useful at the same time."
However, the Army is currently refining its own suite of Mission Command Apps which include mapping, blue force tracking, Tactical Ground Reporting and more. There's also a baseline suite of supporting apps like an address book and Open Office for document viewing.
Right now the government is still trying to determine if a commercial off-the-shelf smartphone in a rugged tactical sleeve will be ideal for the final JBC-P Handheld device, or a government-off-the-shelf model. Either way, the software is designed to run on a variety of Android platforms. "We're trying to set this program up so that it can rapidly adapt and maintain relevance to the current warfighting generation," Daniels said.
According to an article on the Army's website, soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division will also try out the handhelds and JBC-P software during the Network Integration Rehearsal at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in October. The Network Integration Rehearsal is part of a series of four events leading to executing a fully integrated Brigade Combat Team Network Evaluation at the end of 2012.
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Sweet, score one for the green team!
If they ever take the phones out of the US they might need to put satellite dongles into their phones, some places don't have GPRS/2.5G/3G and it's also more secure.
Revealing the exact position of the soldiers to anyone (including the enemy) must be complex tactics.
I wonder if the military will lock THEIR bootloaders...
Oh man, that wasn't a smart choice by the US Military...but not that iOS is any better of a choice.
Who said war wasn't profitable? Jeeze it looks like it's one of the last remaining growth industries. Well done, Obama. I bet it even uses green technology. Aren't we the lucky sod's to have you, and the people you represent, sending our young kids off to fight these foreign wars all with the aid of sophisticated technology. My God we're so lucky aren't we.
Poor choice. Neither Android or iOS are secure enough. Should have went with QNX (RIM) if they wanted mission critical.
I hope those military spec Android smart phones have decent battery life compared to civi version. One big draw back to droid phones.
I am sure the smart phones have built-on hardware encryption and very rugged. Most of you knuckleheads think the US military is going to use smart phone from the local cell phone store!?!? lol
I hope those military spec Android smart phones have decent battery life compared to civi version. One big draw back to droid phones.I am sure the smart phones have built-on hardware encryption and very rugged. Most of you knuckleheads think the US military is going to use smart phone from the local cell phone store!?!? lol
Hah...missed the commercial smart phones with rugged sleeve. Need more caffeine! Unless water proof I cant see that working out too well in real World situations.
no one said war isnt profitable!
and why cant ppl just call them applications instead of pretending "apps" is something different
To the comments of people saying Android isn't secure enough, you are right, to an extent. It's going to be a Military Grade smartphone which also means the Government is most likely going to have a hand in the security of this device. To "Wild9" really? Do we seriously have to blame EVERYTHING on Obama? Unfortunately countries HAVE to have armies, there is always going to be war. Lets not also forget that this is a volunteer Military that we have. No one forced these young kids to join. They signed the contract knowing what they were getting in to, if they didn't know what they were getting in to then their parents failed at raising them right. I joined the US Army almost 4 years ago and I made sure I knew everything I could about the Army before even thinking of talking to a recruiter. As my old First Sergeant always said "There's only one reason for a Nation to have a Military, War!" Also, yes the Military is actually using "green technology." The Military isn't as bad as you are trying to make it out to be. I have deployed and have served my first 4 year contract honorably and have re-enlisted for another 3 which I will serve honorably then get out. It's not about profit, it's about keeping us safe so we can come home. Why do you think all these unmanned weapons are coming out? Rifles that can attach a pistol and shoot around corners. It's about safety, not money.
"Negative soldier, you can't go there, access denied, please press 1 to call Steve Jobs, press 2 to prepare to die" lol hahah.
It's obvious they won't choose OS X or something. I can't imagine soldiers running with Cydia and stuff to jailbreak that shitty OS.
Android is the most secure mobile OS on the planet that's available to the general public.
Oh man, that wasn't a smart choice by the US Military...but not that iOS is any better of a choice.
just so you know, iOS is a more secure, not by much but it is
If the Army could use LASER distance/Azimuth measuring devices attached to their weapons & Android, they could triangulate the exact point of a 'bad guy' via at least 2 GPS equipped soldiers. Then let's see those bastards get away. Think cosmic !!
It's not about profit, it's about keeping us safe so we can come home. Why do you think all these unmanned weapons are coming out? Rifles that can attach a pistol and shoot around corners. It's about safety, not money.
It's not about profit;
It's not about keeping your home secure - China owns your mortgage and there's violence everywhere;
It's all about keeping the war industry alive, either through the terror paranoia or with the creation of fake wars such as Vietnam or Iraqi.
Android is the most secure mobile OS on the planet that's available to the general public.
Wrong. Anything is safer than Android, even iOS. Actually a smartphone is not needed to handle GPS and texting some coordinates.
Okay so i really like this idea and people you really think there going to have this running on a public network. Please LOL. Okay so i was a 14E in the army and we had our own networks we attached to we didnt use any sort of public network for anything its very easy to attach a "short range" cell tower to a vehicle or a group of vehicles ohh and lest us not forget the predator that can be equiped with a reciever and that can fly for a total of 24 hours.. and thats just the stuff we know about please understand that the government has there own versions of Operating systems they actually have a government edition of XP that is 3 times more secure than the crap we use and they also have computers that are using processors and other forms of computer hardware that is anywhere from 3 to 5 years newer than what we use.. just look at the date stamped on your current core i7 2600 there made in 2009... so this is great news just think about what can be done with this they could create spy drones that could mark snipers on roofs and send the info to googlemaps on the ground pounders droids and than they know exactly where it is.. this is amazing tech i hope it all works out
Well the military better not use iPhones.... since those phones track everywhere you go, what if it were to fall into enemy hands???
Well the military better not use iPhones.... since those phones track everywhere you go, what if it were to fall into enemy hands???
Lo Jack for phones ohh even better it has a small explosive charge in it and it goes boom when its lost or stolen =) but in all reality they can be tracked and killed instantly i am sure thats part of the security protocall just like military issued laptops they have passwords and lojack and other security measures to prevent information being stolen from them. plus sensitive data is never stored on a remote unit there stored on central servers and accessed in real time via a advanced network
They should have chosen the iOS and the iPhone. At least then the iPhone could have doubled as a hand grenade lol.
Wrong. Anything is safer than Android, even iOS. Actually a smartphone is not needed to handle GPS and texting some coordinates.
Yet another misinformed Apple fan. Android has been more secure than iOS since the beginning. Simply telling people what apps they can and cannot install on their smartphone like Apple does will not make a phone more secure.
Yet another misinformed Apple fan. Android has been more secure than iOS since the beginning. Simply telling people what apps they can and cannot install on their smartphone like Apple does will not make a phone more secure.
Not to forget, Apple keeps location data. It could be fatal to the army.
Android is a good choice simply because it is an open source and it can be modified to match their need.
So since Android is based off a open source code. Is this not a more security risk then a proprietary OS? Is the military just getting cheap?
So since Android is based off a open source code. Is this not a more security risk then a proprietary OS?
It is and it isn't. Being open source means that both malicious software developers and the military are able to find security exploits by viewing the code. In the case of a closed source OS, it's a race to see who can poke and prod the software to make it break first.
I can only see these phones being a problem.
Facebook status update: "Just blew up a train station LOL"
Wow lots of uninformed individuals. Army is going to use this and attach to the JNN not a regular cell network. I can also see them implementing spread spectrum frequency hopping with the same encryption methods used on the SINGARS line. Would make triangulation, interception or interruption impossible. Synched with the appropriate weapons platforms, FBCB2 and ABCS this could be a pretty fcking destructing device.
For those uninitiated in how signal works I'll try to break it down. US military radios use a technique called spread spectrum frequency hopping, the radio switches frequencies in excess of 100 times per second. All the radios on any given net switch at the same time to ensure consistent communications. On top of this the actual signal is encrypted with stuff you can't get in the civilian world. The keying material for the system is handled in an extremely rigid system that forces accountability of every key from birth (at the NSA facility) to death (monthly destruction by the site COMSEC custodian). Keys are frequently changed out and multiple keys are used in a SSFH mode. The exact sequence is randomized by the frequency manager and made into something called a "loadset" that is loaded with its accompanies COMSEC into each radio prior to use and then reloaded every crypto period (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) depending on the mission. The JTRS will be replacing the SINGARS eventually.
So no, the enemy can't intercept or otherwise disable this system. The only option is a complete radio white noise jamming. This will disable all wireless communications, both friendly and enemy, and paint a big red target on the jamming site that everyone in 100km will notice.
Also because this is an open source OS, they will have people pouring over every line of code and validating it as secure. Specifically it must meet FIPS 140-2 compliance before it can become a DoD communications system. Then the specific Program Management Office (PMO) for this will customize it and modify it to work with the JNN and other DoD networks. When they get finished its underlying system won't remotely resemble a consumer grade cell phone. I'm willing to put money that the Open Source was the biggest reason they went with this. It gives the DoD maximum flexibility to modify and integrate the system, without having to worry about vender's throwing tantrums (Apple / Palm / Blackberry).
Okay so i really like this idea and people you really think there going to have this running on a public network. Please LOL. Okay so i was a 14E in the army and we had our own networks we attached to we didnt use any sort of public network for anything its very easy to attach a "short range" cell tower to a vehicle or a group of vehicles ohh and lest us not forget the predator that can be equiped with a reciever and that can fly for a total of 24 hours.. and thats just the stuff we know about please understand that the government has there own versions of Operating systems they actually have a government edition of XP that is 3 times more secure than the crap we use and they also have computers that are using processors and other forms of computer hardware that is anywhere from 3 to 5 years newer than what we use.. just look at the date stamped on your current core i7 2600 there made in 2009... so this is great news just think about what can be done with this they could create spy drones that could mark snipers on roofs and send the info to googlemaps on the ground pounders droids and than they know exactly where it is.. this is amazing tech i hope it all works out
Do you think the government runs a super secret hidden fab to make those chips, plus the motherboards and ancillary devices? Or did we just steal that tech from the crash in Roswell?
Seriously, you think the government isn't using commodity hardware? With the speed that computer tech depreciates, they would never actually stay ahead of the curve without a MASSIVE fab to completely renew all their machines every couple years, with that mythical new tech they make.
They probably have a locked down version of XP, they probably DON'T fab their own i7's.
"U.S. Military Chose Android for Tactical Ops"
From that title, I thought that they were going to send a humaniform robot into combat.
The main reason they would want to use android is that they can strip it, and rebuild it the way they want and not get sued.
I'm sure there is a company or patent troll out there that would find a reason.
"has there own versions of Operating systems they actually have a government edition of XP that is 3 times more secure than the crap we use"
Not so much a different version, just a standardized hardening that you could do on your home machine tbh, and its mostly Vista and 7, not XP.
palladin hit the nail on the head really.
Wow lots of uninformed individuals. Army is going to use this and attach to the JNN not a regular cell network. I can also see them implementing spread spectrum frequency hopping with the same encryption methods used on the SINGARS line. Would make triangulation, interception or interruption impossible. Synched with the appropriate weapons platforms, FBCB2 and ABCS this could be a pretty fcking destructing device.For those uninitiated in how signal works I'll try to break it down. US military radios use a technique called spread spectrum frequency hopping, the radio switches frequencies in excess of 100 times per second. All the radios on any given net switch at the same time to ensure consistent communications. On top of this the actual signal is encrypted with stuff you can't get in the civilian world. The keying material for the system is handled in an extremely rigid system that forces accountability of every key from birth (at the NSA facility) to death (monthly destruction by the site COMSEC custodian). Keys are frequently changed out and multiple keys are used in a SSFH mode. The exact sequence is randomized by the frequency manager and made into something called a "loadset" that is loaded with its accompanies COMSEC into each radio prior to use and then reloaded every crypto period (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) depending on the mission. The JTRS will be replacing the SINGARS eventually.So no, the enemy can't intercept or otherwise disable this system. The only option is a complete radio white noise jamming. This will disable all wireless communications, both friendly and enemy, and paint a big red target on the jamming site that everyone in 100km will notice.Also because this is an open source OS, they will have people pouring over every line of code and validating it as secure. Specifically it must meet FIPS 140-2 compliance before it can become a DoD communications system. Then the specific Program Management Office (PMO) for this will customize it and modify it to work with the JNN and other DoD networks. When they get finished its underlying system won't remotely resemble a consumer grade cell phone. I'm willing to put money that the Open Source was the biggest reason they went with this. It gives the DoD maximum flexibility to modify and integrate the system, without having to worry about vender's throwing tantrums (Apple / Palm / Blackberry).
So if the military is so brilliant, and has such amazing technology, and etc...
Where was that stuff when the Wiki-Leaks scandal happened eh? Nothing is foolproof, and the systems, and tech, while they sound fancy and all.. Really aren't. And that's coming from a tech that actually used to work on some of those systems, including SINCGARS, SHF/EHF satelite comms, HF/VHF/UHF comms, as well as a very shoddy underwater comm system. Just because it sparkles, doesn't mean its all that great man.