Which smartphone would you rather have with you in a foxhole? An iPhone or an Android-based device? That question could be a welcome choice for U.S. Army troops overseas in the near future as generals contemplate making smartphones — with adjustments for security and endurance in harsh conditions — standard government issue alongside rifles, canteens and boots.
iPads, Too?
Other mobile devices could also find their way to the battlefield.
“We’re looking at everything from iPads to Kindles to nook readers to mini-projectors,” Mike McCarthy, director of the mission-command complex of the Future Force Integration Directorate at Fort Bliss, Texas, told the Army Times.
The newspaper said the Army may even pay soldiers’ phone bills. It’s all part of a plan to help field personnel get quick access to real-time intelligence and video from unmanned systems such as drones and to track friends and enemies in the theater of operations.
The Army’s embrace of the two fastest-growing smartphone platforms in the U.S. is likely at least partially motivated by recruiting and retention concerns, said analyst Charles King of Pund-IT.
“I expect that part of the military’s decision is generational,” King said. “If you want to keep young troops — or employees — engaged in their work, give them the tools they know and understand. That should allow them to perform their duties more effectively, but it also helps ensure that they stay interested and engaged in their responsibilities to the point that they don’t leave for greener, more IT-literate pastures when their terms of duty are finished.”
The smartphone program also suggests that where once military technology led to consumer advances, the roles are now reversed. But Meredith Eitt, a senior mobile-devices analyst at Current Analysis, said military innovation will still need to be applied to smartphones.
“Obviously, the Army finds consumer electronics sophisticated enough to be…