The U.S. Army wants to equip their soldiers with reliable, fast communication devices coupled with GPS navigation. Until recently, the Army was independently developing its own devices through the Nett Warrior program, but Wired reports that things have taken a more commercial turn.
The Net Warrior program was designed to equip soldiers with "wearable computers," but that was put on the back burner in July. The reasoning? The Army has begrudgingly accepted that what it's looking for has already been developed.
Smartphones have been suggested for this program before, but it seems the Army was resisting the idea of utilizing them for a few reasons. Among them are the facts that currently-existing phones aren't built to withstand harsh conditions and require extensive infrastructures to function.
Despite that, the Army is looking into implementing smartphones because of their impressive capabilities. Instead of calling them smartphones, the a new solicitation from Nett Warrior is referring to them as NW EUDs, or Net Warrior End-User Devices. The solicitation is insisting that the devices be powered by Android. The photo to the right is just an example of an available phone, but the Army will want very customized capabilities.
Some desired functions are fairly standard, like being sunlight-readable, having a screen that dims for night operations and having an integrated camera, GPS, compass and accelerometers. Others are less common. It will need to work in areas with no cell towers, have a touch screen "suitable for use with fire retardant gloves, in wet or dusty conditions" and have the ability to "tether to a tactical radio via USB."
These specifications may be unusual, but a big, juicy government contract is surely enough to motivate Google to make it possible.
The Net Warrior program was designed to equip soldiers with "wearable computers," but that was put on the back burner in July. The reasoning? The Army has begrudgingly accepted that what it's looking for has already been developed.
Despite that, the Army is looking into implementing smartphones because of their impressive capabilities. Instead of calling them smartphones, the a new solicitation from Nett Warrior is referring to them as NW EUDs, or Net Warrior End-User Devices. The solicitation is insisting that the devices be powered by Android. The photo to the right is just an example of an available phone, but the Army will want very customized capabilities.
Some desired functions are fairly standard, like being sunlight-readable, having a screen that dims for night operations and having an integrated camera, GPS, compass and accelerometers. Others are less common. It will need to work in areas with no cell towers, have a touch screen "suitable for use with fire retardant gloves, in wet or dusty conditions" and have the ability to "tether to a tactical radio via USB."
These specifications may be unusual, but a big, juicy government contract is surely enough to motivate Google to make it possible.
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