Army Special Operations Command is dumping the Android tactical smartphone for an iPhone
for better situational awareness. Photo: Vesper Case UK.
Posted on 07/19/2016 11:01:08 AM PDT by Swordmaker
U.S. Army Special Operations Command is dumping its Android tactical smartphone for an iPhone model.
The iPhone 6S will become the end-user device for the iPhone Tactical Assault Kit – special-operations-forces version Army’s Nett Warrior battlefield situational awareness tool, according to an Army source, who is not authorized to speak to the media. The iTAC will replace the Android Tactical Assault Kit.
The iPhone is “faster; smoother. Android freezes up” and has to be restarted too often, the source said. The problem with the Android is particularly noticeable when viewing live feed from an unmanned aerial system such as Instant Eye, the source said.
When trying to run a split screen showing the route and UAS feed, the Android smart phone will freeze up and fail to refresh properly and often have to be restarted, a process that wastes valuable minutes, the source said.
“It’s seamless on the iPhone,” according to the source. “The graphics are clear, unbelievable.”
Nett Warrior as well as the ATAC and soon-to-be-fielded iTAC basically consist of a smartphone that’s connected to a networked radio. They allow small unit leaders to keep track of their location and the locations of their soldiers with icons on a digital map.
They are also designed to help leaders view intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance sensor feeds such as video streams from unmanned aerial systems.
The Nett Warrior system uses a Samsung smartphone worn in a chest-mounted pouch and connected to networked radio General Dyanamics AN/PRC-154A Rifleman Radio. Nett Warrior evolved from the Army’s long-gestating Land Warrior program. Army officials began working on that system in the mid-1990s and over the next decade struggled with reliability and weight problems.
The special operations forces’ ATAC and iTAC use a smart phone connected to a Harris AN/PRC 152A radio.
Both radios are part of the Joint Tactical Radio System, but the PRC-152A allows operators to automatically move across different waveforms to talk to units in other services. The Rifleman Radio does not have this capability, the source said.
This is a problem, the source said, because SOF units can communicate with conventional soldiers using Nett Warrior, but it’s only one-way communications. Nett Warrior equipped soldiers can only receive communications from SOF; they cannot initiate or answer SOF units with the Rifleman Radio, the source said.
Military.com reached out to Program Executive Office Soldier’s Project Manager Soldier Warrior to talk about this problem and to see if it was considering changing to the iPhone and possibly trading in the Rifleman Radio for the PRC-152A.
We received the following mail response:
“PEO Soldier has no response to the questions” posed by Military.com, according to PEO Soldier officials.
The Army does have plans to move the AN/PRC-159 radio as a fix to the one-way communications problem, but that is not supposed to happen until 2020 at the earliest, the source said.
As a short-term fix, the Rapid Equipping Force is looking at fielding Harris PRC-152A radio to units such as the 82nd Airborne Division that make up the Global Response Force, the source said.
iPhone 6s Surprisingly Water Resistant, but Not Waterproof
MacRumors—Monday September 28, 2015 8:09 am PDT by Mitchel BroussardSince the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been out for a few days, some users have begun to test the breaking point of the new devices, especially in regards to the possibility of water resistance. A handful of YouTubers have put together some videos showcasing impressive results of both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus under a few inches of water, but the devices fare much worse when put to the test under four feet of water in a swimming pool. (more, including videos of testing showing iPhone 6S under water for 30 minutes at source site)
In addition, there are multiple companies making reasonably priced waterproof and hardened iPhone 6 and 6 plus cases. Consumers Reports found that Samsung's claims that their Galaxy S7 Active Phone was waterproof, the one they advertise by pouring Champagne over, were bogus. Multiple samples failed CU's testing.
The funny thing about liars BS'ers is that they always end up getting caught by their own lies BS.
To wit, when it some time ago came to the *iwatch*, you were adamant, in lengthy discussions, citing arcane legal statutes, against all common sense, that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WATERPROOF. Calling something "waterproof" is patently illegal! No such thing exists! There can only be "water resistant".
And yet, there you go...
:-)
#2 Cannot replace the batteries on an iPhone. Do they have a Apple Genius as a squad member ready to take apart the phone and add a battery?
A modern smart phone is thousands of times more powerful than the computers the Apollo mission used to navigate to the moon. They are about as powerful as a Cray 2 supercomputer, from the mid ‘80s — and minuscule by comparison, with a relatively negligible power consumption. There’s more to be in awe of, than there is to criticize.
Still not feeling any safer, try again...
There isn't any such thing as "waterproof" only degrees of water resistant. There are cases made for the iPhone that are quite water resistant down to the deepest ratings which is about 300 meters. Pardon me if i took a short cut in describing what is available in response to someone who was using that criteria as a qualification. Somehow I doubt that an Army Special Ops soldier is going to need a 300 Meter qualified rating.
incidentally, I never made any claim referencing any product called an "iWatch" as there is no such product. The Apple Watch is reasonably water resistant that people are taking showers with it, washing their hands wearing theirs, and even swimming to depths of three feet for periods of up to an hour.
I also never said that calling something "waterproof" was "patently illegal." I said there was no certification for such a standard for calling anything "waterproof." Don't put words in my posts that were never there.
Add a sufficient capacity external battery in your military hardened case. Problem solved. That's what they did for the previous models of the Samsung phones they were using. They did not have replaceable batteries either.
Future history book entry on the United States:
The war was lost for want of a battery
All the Samsung hardware is made in China as well...
Our biggest problem with our Androids is when we are outside like at the beach or on a long walk and the bright sun blocks us from seeing our Android screens, in particular when trying to read an email/msg or trying taking a picture
Our younger relatives with Iphones don’t have that problem, they can see their screens when we can’t and they are standing by us.
They may not need one. Read on. And there's more *here*.
Kewl. The new ones from Tadiran have a 40-year life, up from the old ones that only held a charge for 25 years. And guess what they go in?
Water is waterproof.
I wonder if Switzerland has a Swiss Army Phone?
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