First, the U.S. Army’s Captain Jonathan Springer developed the iPhone app, Tactical Nav, for battlefield mapping and artillery sighting. Now, Ft. Bragg has developed an integrated system for many of the same things based on the Android operating system. According to the Army’s Web page on the project, the security of the system is paramount.
“The device, known as a Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P Handheld, is the first developed under an Army effort to devise an Android-based smartphone framework and suite of applications for tactical operations. The government-owned framework, known as Mobile /Handheld Computing Environment, or CE, ensures that regardless of who develops them, applications will be secure and interoperable with existing mission command systems so information flows seamlessly across all echelons of the force.”
This framework was originally prototyped by MITRE. Further development is under the aegis of the Army’s Software Engineering Directorate in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Army is inviting outside developers to create apps for the phone. The “Mobile /Handheld CE development kit” will be released to devs in July. The device’s baseline app suite includes “mapping, blue force tracking, Tactical Ground Reporting, or TIGR tactical graphics and critical messaging (such as SPOT reports, Medevac and Mayday).”
Given the system being developed for is profoundly unlikely to make its way onto the marketplace for some time, if ever, it may not be as appealing as developing for the Android Market. Of course, designing an app that saves lives or prosecutes a war may be rewarding in itself to some developers.
The fact that the system is based on a technology many soldiers will come into service knowing, that the framework allows extensive, relatively quick adaptation through app creation and was created to interact with different outside structures, such as various radio networks, may insure its rapid adoption.
Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 1St Armored Division will test the devices during the “Network Integration Rehearsal” at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range in October.
A4A
Last year, the Army also sponsored the Apps 4 the Army challenge. Over 75 days, the Army evaluated 53 submissions, choosing 15 winners and honorable mentions.
Gen. Chiarelli photo by Ashley Blumenfeld
