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back to article US Army 'to issue every soldier with a smartphone'

The US Army is working on plans to issue every one of its soldiers with a smartphone – either an iPhone, Android device or perhaps even a "Palm Trio" [sic]. Windows 7 was not mentioned. The Army Times reports on the military smartphone plans, which have been rumbling along for a while now in various forms. Some US units have …

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  1. M7S
    WTF?

    US trying to outdo UK forces again

    After all, our sailors only had one iPod between then to give the Iranians a couple of years ago when they extended hospitality to our sailors a couple of years ago. Imagine how excited they'll be to get ahold of a bundle of smartphones with all this tactical data. Particularly if the users can be "persuaded" to give them the PIN before HQ realises they've been compromised.

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  2. E 2
    Thumb Down

    Now that is what I call PORK!

    FULL FAT PORK!

    Which industry lobbyist pulled off this coup?

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    1. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Reply Icon

      Who?

      I'll bet it's Motorola. Just a guess.

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  3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    @BOWMAN

    To be fair two tin cans a bit of string and a pigeon is better than BOWMAN.

    The issue with military and industrial kit is that I might just want to replace a broken unit next year with the same model. But instead I have to upgrade my entire army because I can only buy new iPhone7 and they aren't compatible with iPhone6 that the rest of the unit has and iPhone5 that the navy has and ...

    So we will buy COTS and next year we will be buying the old stuff from specialist suppliers at 10x the cost.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Robert Brandon

    "How will the army provide security for the phones? Since many of them contain GPS, couldn't enemies hack into it and find your location."

    Assuming it’s at least similar to Land Warrior then no. LW didn’t use GSM, it used a secure wireless and a number of existing military carriers were also demonstrated, and GPS was limited to participants rather than a wider audience. The new deployment would likely follow suit with GPS availability limited to a squad. There is existing tech which provides position data to command which may well be integrated but that uses its own network too.

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  5. Jonathan Dixon
    Jobs Horns

    Blackberries?

    No blackberries? Im supprised!

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  6. Arctic fox
    Happy

    Better make sure that it........

    . is a phone that actually has top class call quality and does not have a tendency to drop calls if the coverage is anything less than first class. I wonder which phone that might eliminate from any short list?

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  7. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    Don't know about "Trios"

    but everyone in the US Ballet Force should definitely be issued with a Pixi.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    a title is required

    I pity the fools with a smartphone. As a grunt who did his time with racal's manpack gear I just hope the frontline units have some decent rf backup for when these toys go to lunch. Racal's gear was waterproof, dustproof and shockproof to the nth degree. I could power the radio from a vehicle, a rechargeable battery pack or worst case using 18 D cells. The unit would also stand up to a firefight. I hope these phones have a whisper mode for use in close combat.

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  9. Graham Marsden
    Grenade

    HELLO!!

    I'M ON A COVERT MISSION!!!!

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  10. Goat Jam
    Thumb Up

    An interesting recruitment incentive

    I know lots of slack jawed idiot teenagers and twenty somethings who would do literally anything to get their hands on the latest shiny shiny.

    "Sign up with the U.S. Army and get a free iPhone!"

    The Iraqistani's haven't got a chance!

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  11. Eddie Johnson
    Megaphone

    Military Intelligence

    I'm just curious how much money and how many consultants it took to come up with the CSDA acronym. I'm actually surprised they didn't spend a few hundred thousand more for something like TRIGGER - Transmitter, Receiver, Intelligence Gathering Gateway and Emergency Requisitioner.

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  12. JaitcH
    Happy

    Stunningly sane, obvious decision: saves money too

    The money wasted by the military on communications is enormous. Then when a choice has been made, there is the small matter of interoperability between members of different forces.

    The Royal Signals alone has a stunning number of systems: PERSONAL ROLE RADIO (PRR),

    PTARMIGAN, TRIFFID, EUROMUX, CORMORANT, FALCON and PROMINA almost all of them replaceable with cell/Wimax/LTE technology.

    Now we have to persuade the police to dump all their old technologies and get with the money saving idea.

    Guess that Thales/Racal, BAE and Siemens Plessey won't be too happy though!

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    this time they are ready for real-time wiki leak big time

    the only thing left to decide is whether Lady Gaga WILL OFFER her service this time

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  14. Tempest
    Pint

    All about not reinventing the wheel and saving money

    A typical military personal 2-way radio costs thousands, gobbles batteries and is often incompatible with co-operating forces - the U.S. invariably chooses complex designs which others strive to emulate.

    Adopting smartphone & cell type technology is so stupidly sensible.

    Total interoperability between all forces; only need to download info for a given task; provides audio, video and data output; cheap; disposable; can be solar powered.

    It reminds me of WW2. Tanks had a typical working life of 6 months before destruction. The Allies used mass produced tanks and vehicles along the lines of Ford production. The Germans, on the other hand, used mechanically advanced engines and tanks, along the Mercedes principles.

    Guess what? The easiest to field repair were the Allied vehicles: cheap and nasty - could be repaired using local supplies.The German vehicles, though, required precision parts and garage servicing.

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  15. druck Silver badge
    Grenade

    GSM or that other crap?

    Are these going be GSM smartphones so they work in places the US Army is likely to be, or are they going to have to haul CDMA towers in to the field with them wherever they go (apart from South Korea)?

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  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In yesterday news...

    ... Arizona cuts organ transplants to save $5M.

    So if you were waiting for a heart transplant but now have been informed that you're going to die, get comfort in being reassured that soldiers will be given away mobile phones (so that they can play Tetris on the combat field?).

    USA sounds just like UK (or any other "democratic" country for that matter): you have the choice to vote left or right, meaning that you have the right to choose which party will screw you.

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  17. mhenriday
    Big Brother

    How kind of the military !

    And how naive of any soldier who doesn't realise that his or her messages will be closely vetted ! A one-way ticket to a cell in Kuwait....

    Henri

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  18. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    I bet MS would make their military model.....

    With a bright flashing screen and screeching hooter, in the event an ambush was expected.

    They would call it the Covert Opps safety model.

    Of course it would take 5 minutes to shutdown because of OS bloat....

    That or a rifle butt.

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  19. Sirius Lee
    Alert

    Non-sequiter?

    "Nobody seems to be fancying Windows Phone 7 much, however."

    It may be true but nothing preceding the statement seems to lead to that conclusion. The article's tag line shows WinPho7 stuck through though the quote of Gen Vane doesn't go that far. "...whatever else is out there" is not a ringing endorsement but it's not quite the story you promote. Maybe an opportunity to squeeze in a bit of personal opinion?

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  20. yeehaw....
    Black Helicopters

    Remember Obama's Blackberry

    The NSA 'secured' his BB so he wouldn't have to give it up - inside track so political folks in-the-know can buy some stock in RIM?

    The military knows who is in power and since the Vietnam war is very cognizant of that fact, don't you think buying a mil or so BB's would be looked kindly upon by the current administration?

    .... 68 SK LFG

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  21. Bod
    Paris Hilton

    Handing the world to Google (or Apple)

    So if say many or most go get a Droid, then Google will be tracking them via Latitude along with all their Google activities.

    How long before Google decide to take control of the world's armed forces?

    Or even Apple, but who knows what tracking Steve is up to. Though we do know that world domination is his ultimate goal.

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  22. Erroneous Howard

    So.....

    ....although our military may be undersupplied with the tools they need to actually do their jobs, at least we'll be able to hold our own in an Angry Birds conflict.

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