Lt. Col. Harbin, right, and Maj James Hoffman use a Rover laptop and receiver in the streets of New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina . The Rover cameras helped the team spot stranded people and pets in the lower ninth ward.
Posted on 09/13/2007 6:10:02 AM PDT by RDTF
In the summer of 2003, an Air Force pilot named Greg Harbin was doing desk duty at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Day in and day out, Harbin sat in front of five computer screens, scanning photographs and video sent by unmanned planes flying 1,200 miles away, over Iraq and Afghanistan.
His job was to take that information, along with reports from ground troops, and identify fresh targets -- Taliban fighters or Iraqi insurgents.
But one thing puzzled him.
When regular units called for an attack by a Predator drone, the request went to Harbin, and then, if approved by a general, to "pilots" in Nevada, who fired the missile by remote control. The process often took as long as 45 minutes.
By contrast, special operations forces could call in attacks by unmanned Predator aircraft in less than a minute.
The difference, Harbin learned, was that a handful of special ops units were equipped with a device called the Rover, which gave them the same view as the pilots in Nevada. This greatly simplified communications.
Why don't all American fighting units have the Rover? he asked himself. Then he put the question to his boss, Lt. Gen. Walter E. Buchanan, commander of the Air Force in the Middle East. Buchanan's reply: Why indeed.
-snip-
One day, it would save his life.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Excellent article...worth the time to read.
ping
Very good read. Nice technology.
Great story and it is nice to see that the bureaucracy doesn’t slow everything up. Thanks for posting.
Incredible ingenuity and courage. Wiring the laptop to the Humvee battery in the middle of a firefight. Just wow!
Now this is a man who deserves a lot more than just one Bronze Star. This is a true American hero.
ping - great read
TY - great read - greater technology - need more of it.
So it is not just the laptop ... likely there is additional communications gear that is required as well. You cant use bluetooth or wifi to talk to a helicopter that is 5,000 feet above you.
In addition to what taxcontrol said (all valid), I’m sure it has to be *extremely* durable compared to a normal laptop. Plus I’m not sure my laptop would fire up if I hot-wired it to a Humvee battery. But I bet the comm gear is the most expensive, like taxcontrol said.
Lt. Col. Harbin, right, and Maj James Hoffman use a Rover laptop and receiver in the streets of New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina . The Rover cameras helped the team spot stranded people and pets in the lower ninth ward.
EMP hardening might be in there, too.
milspec
Wouldn’t it be great if this article would actually be published in the print edition! Really stirring reporting!
If not mistaken I think it is - right on page 1
The author was an embed with the 101st Airborne in 2003 —
War Profiles: Julian E. Barnes ‘92, embedded journalist
Published On Thursday, June 05, 2003 12:00 AM
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=348413
Bump for later.
Excellent!
“So it is not just the laptop ... likely there is additional communications gear that is required as well. You cant use bluetooth or wifi to talk to a helicopter that is 5,000 feet above you.”
The roaming charges would kill you.
Outstanding article! It’s one of the best I’ve read in a long time.
Thanks for posting. That is an amazing story. A real insight into how warfighting will be done in this century.
Every once in a while the LA Times comes out with a great article.
It is a shame this story could not be posted in full here on FR.
Highly recommended reading.
Thank you for a Great Post !
But because it’s the LA Times the readers are too dim to appreciate it. Check out the comments.
p.s. at this link you can see that not only is it on the front page, but at the top of column one!
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/?track=leftnav-printedition
That’s terrific. I hope that Barnes continues to report on military matters.
A very interesting read. It is amazing how many technologies don’t make it to the battlefield. Engineers are very smart but it can be hard to figure out what is very useful in combat and what is just extra weight to lug around. Without folks like him the cool toys just don’t get to where they need to be.
I know military computers are a lot more expensive than my portable because they have to be hardened against a lot of conditions ordinary computers don't face. For example, from the article, this computer survived a nearby strike from an RPG and kept working. It did so on a day when the temperature was probably over 105 degrees outside when it was sitting in a hot HUMVEE. It also did so with a cooling system that was constantly sucking in very fine sand and still cooling the motherboard. Etc.
The computer is a Panasonic Toughbook. It, and similar milspec ruggedised computers, don’t have cooling fans sucking in air.
Harbin’s story shows why even the support guys are heroes. Go rover go!
If I hadn’t known he was an officer, I would have figured he was a cre chief. :0)
If it fired up at all, it would probably fire up quite literally. :-)
cre=crew
Excellent story, thanks for posting. BTT.
ping - I think you’ll enjoy this
We’ve got the smartest military ever. This is incredible. How amazing....what a grand thinker this man is. No telling how many of our troops are alive because of this Rover.
I know! Great stuff! And this reporter has some promise.
Can you believe this coming from a slime paper...HA..
Thanks!
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