Android seems to be the operating system of choice when it comes to the US government and military. They’ve managed to create an operating system that is highly secure and is capable of sending highly classified data over cellular networks.

Previously, the government and military relied off of more antiquated phones. Being that technology continues to improve, devices get even smaller, and stronger materials such as Gorilla Glass are on the market, one can create a far more powerful and durable smartphone.

Via CNN:

“Some U.S. officials this year are expected to get smartphones capable of handling classified government documents over cellular networks, according to people involved in the project. The phones will run a modified version of Google’s Android software, which is being developed as part of an initiative that spans multiple federal agencies and government contractors, these people said.”

“The smartphones are first being deployed to U.S. soldiers, people familiar with the project said. Later, federal agencies are expected to get phones for sending and receiving government cables while away from their offices, sources said. Eventually, local governments and corporations could give workers phones with similar software.”

The Army has been testing touch screen devices for about two years now. Last year, they sent 40 phones to forces overseas. They plan to change that this year by shipping out 50 phones and 75 tablets overseas to troops just in March.

“Currently, the United States doesn’t allow government workers or soldiers to use smartphones for sending classified messages because the devices have not met security certifications.”

Do you think these Android phones and tablets are a good choice for the government?

Android Smartphones And Tablets Coming To US Government, Military is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Reaper drone belonging to the U.S. military crashed at an airport on the island nation of Seychelles today, just a little over one week after a drone went down in Iran.

A statement from the U.S. Air Force confirmed the news, saying that it was a remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft that crash-landed at the Seychelles International Airport during a routine patrol run on Tuesday. No injuries resulting from the crash were reported.

Seychelles civilian aviation authority official Lina Laurence said that the Reaper drone developed engine problems shortly after the aircraft lifted off, prompting the pilots to make an emergency landing as quick as possible. However, the aircraft was unable to slow down in time when attempting an emergency landing at the Seychelles airport, Laurence explains, and the drone crashed.

The U.S. Air Force said in its statement that the Seychelles government was immediately notified of the crash, and the two nations are cooperating to remove the debris.

The MQ-9 Reaper drone is one of many drones deployed by the U.S. military in the region to spot who terrorize the waters off the coast of East Africa.

Over the weekend, Iranian official Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guard, said that Iran would not return the drone that crashed in the region early this month in spite of a formal request from Obama.

“No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country,” Salami said. “Iran is among the few countries that possesses the most modern technology in the field of pilotless drones. The technology gap between Iran and the U.S. is not much.”

[Image credit: U.S. Air Force]

U.S. MQ-9 Reaper Drone Crashes in Seychelles is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Department of Defense announced on Thursday that the first test of the Army’s hypersonic weapon, dubbed the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, was a success.

The hypersonic rocket blasted off from Pentagon’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii on Thursday and successfully reached its target Kwajalein Atoll, some 2,500 miles away, in just about half an hour.

The Department of Defense describes the hypersonic weapon as a “first-of-its-kind glide vehicle”. A three-stage booster system propels the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon far up into the atmosphere, where it achieves speeds of over five times the speed of sound.

This wasn’t the first time the military tested a weapon of this nature, but it is the first successful one. Over the past year, DARPA attempted to test out their own hypersonic weapon, the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, on two separate occasions. Both failed.

The report from the Department of Defense didn’t say exactly how fast the AHW is, but the FHTV 2 boasted speeds of Mach 20, or about 13,000-mph, according to DARPA.

The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 may have been a disappointment for the military, but the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon marks a step forward in the military’s “Conventional Prompt Global Strike” initiative, which aims to develop the capabilities to strike at any point on the Earth as quickly as possible.

The Department of Defense notes that at least part of the successful test of the Advanced Hypersonic Vehicle is in no small part due to the lessons learned by DARPA’s failed attempts with the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2.

Source: Department of Defense

[Image: The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2]

Army successfully tests new Advanced Hypersonic Weapon is a post from: The Inquisitr

Forget your Call of Dutys and your Battlefields – the U.S. Army is preparing what should be the most realistic military videogame ever.

At $57 million, this new software has the kind of big bucks budget associated with best-selling shooters. And it’s using the best tech around – Crytek’s CryEngine 3 engine, as seen in the visually stunning Crysis 2. That said, it does lack the flashy names of its gaming cousins – ‘Dismounted Soldier Training System’ (DSTS) doesn’t roll off the tongue.

Nor is DSTS played on a PC or console – instead, soldiers wear special head-mounted displays on their helmets, and the virtual world is piped straight to their eyeballs. Troops are given a 10-by-10 foot training area to operate within, and can move or look in any direction. There’s a dedicated joystick for firing weapons, while voice comms with their colleagues are carried out in-game.

With accurately recreated locales such as Afghanistan and Iraq, this means soldiers can essentially practice missions with their colleagues until they get it right. Troops previously depended on aerial photography, schematics, or ‘word of mouth’ before they set off to face the enemy – now, they’ll be able to perfect their performance beforehand.

If you fancy giving this ultimate military sim a go, the Army will have 102 systems in place globally in January 2012. Now there’s just the small issue of, err, enlisting. Here’s a trailer showing off the tech:

[Via GamePro]

US Army using Crysis 2 engine for ultra-realistic military sim is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m sure that when most people think of the US Special Forces communicating in the field we imagine all kinds of cool special gadgets specially made for them, and costing millions of dollars.

What we don’t think of though is that they might actually be running not quite off the shelf smartphones. More specifically Google Android based smartphones but that apparently is just the case according to a post by Spencer Ackerman at the Danger Room blog.

The Army is 20 years and a half-billion dollars into a star-crossed effort to build custom communications and digital-mapping gadgets for its soldiers. Special Operations Command, on the other hand, is taking a simpler approach: They’re planning to use Android phones.

Last week, the SOCOM asked coders to create a suite of applications for keeping commandos linked up while they’re out on missions. The software should include chat functions, file transfers, video display and “multi-touch whiteboarding aka John Madden tool.”

SOCOM calls it the Tactical Situational Awareness Application Suite, or TactSA, and it has to work in low-connectivity areas — the middle-of-nowhere places you’d expect to send the military’s most elite troops. It’s got to be peer-to-peer, encrypted “at the application level” and able to recover from “network outages and substantial packet loss.”

I can just see the logo now – an Android robot with an army helmet and night vision goggles.

US Special Forces are going Google – Google Android that is is a post from: The Inquisitr

PCs running military simulations have long been used for training purposes in the Army and Marines. However, that nearly changed in 2006, when Microsoft was reportedly approached by the U.S. Army to supply it with Xbox 360 consoles. Despite the lure of a big fat contract with a government agency, Microsoft politely refused.

Supposedly, Microsoft had three reasons for not wanting to get involved:

- The fear that the military would snap up loads of consoles, but would buy only a single game for each. As platform holders make their money from games, not hardware, that’d bring in a big loss for Microsoft.
- A mass purchase by the military would result in an Xbox 360 shortage.
- Third, and most obviously, Microsoft didn’t want the 360 to become synonymous with killing. If it had been used as an Army training device, it may not do much for its image in the eyes of game-wary parents.

I’ve already read a couple of bloggers saying Microsoft were wrong on the third reason, but I beg to differ. I think the firm was spot-on in this case. We all know how the batshit right-wing media reacts over violent videogames.

The Xbox 360 literally being used to train soldiers to kill would have been manna from heaven for the likes of Fox News. A wise move, methinks.

[Via Wired]

Microsoft refused to sell Xbox 360s to U.S. Army for troop training is a post from: The Inquisitr

There is no doubt that in a military force of the size of the US Army there are bound to be a few borderline crackpots. However I think that the idea that a fair number of them are also members of white supremacist social networking services should be just a tad discomforting.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a Alabama base watchdog service that tracks hate groups has compiled a book that contains the online profiles of at least 40 newsaxon.org users who proudly display that they are members of the US Armed Forces. On Friday  the SPLC will be presenting its finding to the key members of congress who chair the House and Senate committees overseeing the armed forces. At that point they well be urging the Pentagon to crack down on these affiliations.

“In the wake of several high-profile murders by extremists of the radical right, we urge your committees to investigate the threat posed by racial extremists who may be serving in the military to ensure that our armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists,” Morris Dees, SPLC co-founder and chief trial counsel, wrote to the legislators. “Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces.”

Source: Stars & Stripes – Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site.

Mark Potock the editor of the report isn’t expecting much of a reaction from the Pentagon given past experiences where the Pentagon has basically shrugged it off and refused to look into the matter in any serious fashon.

On the newsaxon.org website, which Potok termed “a racist version of Facebook run by the National Socialist Movement,” many participants list their branch of service, base location and hometown on colorful pages festooned with Nazi art and Confederate battle flags. Some say they have served or will soon be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Several include pictures of themselves in camouflage combat uniforms.

One participant under the username “WhitePride85,” who said he is a 24-year-old staff sergeant from Madison, Wis., wrote: “I have been in the Army for over 5 years now … I am a SSGT … I have been in Iraq and Kuwait … I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching. I have been a skinhead forever.”

Source: Stars & Stripes – Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site.

If this kind of thing is prevalent in the arm forces it makes one wonder just how may deaths in places like Iraq and Afghanistan were honest mistakes or the result of supremacist hatred.

Some active-duty soldiers members of white supremacist social network is a post from: The Inquisitr

Look at the sign this way: the other side are, so why shouldn’t the US Army recruit suicidal teens as well? Not sure if it’s shopped or not, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that it could be real.

US Army Recruiting Suicidal Teens? is a post from: The Inquisitr

It would seem that not only is the U.S. Army going into the gaming business but they are also taking a serious look at Second Life. Over the next 30 to 45 days Second Lifers will see two new island appear in their world says General William S. Wallace; commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

The first island with the starting point point for anyone wanting to check out the Army scene on Second life is their welcome center. This is where you will find an information kiosk and the means to contact an Army recruiter. The second island will provide; in the words of Gen. Wallace

“virtual experiences like jumping out of airplanes, and rappelling off of towers and using a weapon, to see if we can get some kind of recruiting benefit out of this social networking.”

What I find really facinating about these types of things involving the Army is that they seem to get what all this social mdia and technology is about better than most of the people trying to market it to businesses. They understand that social media isn’t about just setting up shop somewhere and controlling what happens. The Army understands that it is about going to where the people they want to talk with are and then creating a valid reason for a conversation to begin.

For the Army it isn’t a matter of finding a way to make money off of social media interaction. They are looking at purely from an outreach and conversation point of view. This doesn’t mean that they are seeing it as some pie in the sky either but instead are being quite realistic about its potential

Wallace says he’s a realist when it comes to social networking technologies. He admits they’ve probably been “oversold,” but won’t write them off either. The recruiting possibilities are just too alluring.  He notes, ” there’s about 4 million young people that routinely interface in Second Life. [That's] the age group of the young people who we’re trying to encourage to join the military.”

Mabye all these hot to trot social media experts and marketer should keep a closer eye on what the Army is doing. They might learn a thing or two.

U.S. Army to setup camp on Second Life is a post from: The Inquisitr