People have been clamoring for smartphones ever since Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPhone in 2007. Today, thousands of people carry smartphones or tablets. Now, soon the military may too.
Military operations require dependable information on locations, a way for communicating efforts and a way to share information in real-time - sounds like a regular Saturday night for most people as they use their smartphones or tablets to get directions, meet up with friends, and share pictures of the festivities.
Of course, the military versions of these items are considerably "hardened" and developed specifically for military usage by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), but many of the apps carry similarities to those used by civilians, such as DARPA's custom application that sports Google-like maps based on satellite images.
"Darpa, the defense research arm that contributed to the development of the Internet, has launched an effort called Transformative Apps under which it has developed a few dozen smartphone applications that work on a number of mobile devices it is evaluating," reports the Wall Street Journal. "In addition to mapping, the apps can do things like identify explosives and weapons and help navigate parachute drops" and they have shown marked success.
"During a battle in a village near Kandahar, Afghanistan, Lt. Kevin Pelletier used a tablet computer with a custom map application to direct soldiers' movements," continues the paper. "As thousands of rounds flew through the village near Kandahar, Lt. Pelletier used the device to more quickly direct the movement of his soldiers. Two days later, the village was cleared with zero casualties."
"It helped you orient weapons in a firefight," says Lt. Pelletier, a platoon leader in the 10th Mountain Division. "Without a doubt it helped cut casualties."
DARPA began handing out a militarized version of Dell (DELL) Streak 5
