Items tagged with army
The United States Army has posted a video showing what the battlefield looks like through the eyes of a solider equipped with a new set of night vision goggles, and it is pretty spectacular. It almost looks like something out of an artsy music video (remember those?) or a video game, with a semi-neon outlines giving soldiers a better view of their surroundings. When you think about night vision goggles, you probably conjure up images in your mind of a greenish landscape. That is how it is usually depicted in movies, like Step Brothers, and is how it actually looks with some night vision goggles. However, the Army's new Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binoculars (ENVG-B) are a different animal. Have...
Read more...
Situational awareness in war can be an incredibly difficult task; even when combatants aren't shooting at you. Moreover, managing GPS, radios, and target acquisition on top of situational awareness can be problematic as well. To assist with this, Microsoft has developed the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), which can help boots on ground be more effective and safer; but this has raised some concerns from people, including Microsoft's employees. Since 2019, Microsoft has been testing IVAS kits with service members to figure out how to make a solid military product. The Capability Set 2 (CS2), which was tested in October 2019, includes two low-light cameras, thermal sensor, tactical...
Read more...
While virtual and augmented (VR and AR) reality hasn't taken off in the consumer space in a big way, its hardware and technologies are still being driven, but mostly with a focus on enterprise use as of late. Microsoft unveiled its HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset at MWC 2019 in February. The software giant was clear that the device wasn't aiming at the consumer market; rather it was more for enterprise customers. Later, word surfaced that Microsoft had won a contract with the U.S. military that would see the Army get a version of the HoloLens 2 for use on the battlefield, something that a small group of vocal Microsoft employees complained about, leaving Microsoft's CEO defending the contract....
Read more...
Where information gathering is concerned, it's hard to imagine any entity on Earth that captures more data than the US military. It's a constant digital battle to fetch new data and analyze it as quickly as possible in an effort to effectively move operations forward. But an obvious problem arises: there's often just too much data to churn through. Fortunately, computer hardware and software continually evolves, and it can help dramatically improve this sort of work. The same applies to our neural functions, which our computers can read and interpret. A great example of this has just been revealed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Dr. Anthony Ries is a cognitive neuroscientist for the...
Read more...
Building exoskeletons to aid persons or animals is nothing new, and in recent years, we've seen numerous examples of them being built with the use of 3D printing. For those who need them, they can reintroduce some lost capability back into their lives or introduce new-found capability. However, as the US Army has now proven, they can be used for other things, as well. Think Deus Ex-like augmentations. The result of mechanical engineer Dan Baechle's efforts is MAXFAS, a mechanical arm exoskeleton that's designed to improve the accuracy of a person's gun aim. It's to be used both on and off the field, and offers a variety of benefits to both novice and skilled shooting veteran alike. For the novice,...
Read more...
Being a company like Microsoft isn't easy. You've got a lot of customers to please, and a lot of shareholders expecting lots of value. But things get somewhat easier when you get checks in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and DISA have announced that they are expanding access to Microsoft solutions by entering into a transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement for enterprise licenses and software assurance. The agreement provides all three organizations with a single vehicle for accessing the latest Microsoft technologies in support of top IT priorities around datacenter consolidation, collaboration, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing...
Read more...
The U.S. Army is finishing a program to test the viability of smartphones in combat this weekend, after a rigorous six week course in the desert. The program, which began on June 6, took place at the White Sands and Fort Bliss training areas in New Mexico and Texas and tested over 300 iOS, Android, and Windows devices. The program has proven successful enough that soldiers may start shipping out with smartphones as soon as this year. However, it has not been without its problems. The Army group had initial troubles while testing the iPhone in deserts of the training areas, due to a problem that many iPhone fans and critics are familiar with. "AT&T didn't provide service there," said Michael...
Read more...
Android on the battlefield? It's not as crazy as you might think. The U.S. Army is always looking for new and crazy ways to gain and edge, and they aren't shy when it comes to looking toward technology for those answers. According to a new report, they're now finalizing a software framework for Android-based devices that will let third-party software devs create "interoperable mobile apps for combat soldiers." Currently, it's being tested by the the 82nd Airborne Division on a prototype device, dubbed the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P Handheld. The software platform is called CE for short, and it "guides application developers so the resulting code is secure, and will mesh with apps...
Read more...
The Global Positioning System is something most Americans take for granted. It's one of those things, like radio waves and cellphone service, that just seems "there." As if it were always "there" and will always be "there." It's almost as if the world was created with GPS, mostly because there's no monthly fee to tap into the satellites, and just about every smartphone now has GPS capabilities built right in. So, it's fair to take it all for granted, right? Well, not really. GPS may be there for all to enjoy, but it's not free. In fact, it doesn't even come cheap. The GPS system we're used to now has been around for awhile, and it's about time to start thinking about upgrades. According to a...
Read more...
You can hardly talk about U.S. military and defense systems without mentioning Raytheon. The same company that introduced an iPhone app for the battlefield a few months ago has just announced a huge contract win that could change the way GPS is viewed and used forever. And if you've ever wished that you could find a signal in a crowded city or have a GPS unit with more accuracy, there's a good chance you'll appreciate this.The United States Air Force has selected Raytheon for an "initial contract of $886 million to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System to improve the accuracy of information from GPS satellites." GPS is fantastic, and it's even available on most smartphones, but...
Read more...
There's no doubt that software and technology advancements have made all of our lives easier, but sometimes things go a bit further than giving us more options for shopping and easier ways to stay connected to high school classmates. Take IBM, for example. The iconic tech giant has just released a software protocol that not only cuts down on paper usage, but also removes American soldiers from the line of fire. No, we're not talking about robotic software that automatically fires at enemies. That's already out there. This is a simpler affair, but when viewed in this circumstance, it gives you a whole new appreciation of simple software. Recently, the US Army applauded EIM's Army Action Tracking...
Read more...
You may recall earlier in the year the crackdown placed on bloggers by the military, who said that such blogging could pose a security threat by leaking sensitive wartime information. Yet, haven't we seen huge amounts of sensitive information leaked on the Internet by government agencies? (Nods head in agreement) A series of audits has shown that official DoD websites pose far more of a threat than soldiers' blogs. The audits, performed by the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell between January 2006 and January 2007, found at least 1,813 violations of operational security policy on 878 official military websites. In contrast, the 10-man, Manassas, Virginia, unit discovered 28 breaches, at most,...
Read more...
The latest version of the Army's own FPS, America's Army, is out, bringing with it a tool to make your maps and missions. Along with the 2.08 update being released, the new Mission Depot is also available, allowing aspiring map creators to submit their work for review, with the chance of it becoming the next official mission distributed through the Honor network. For more information and download links, Click here. "This release coincides with the opening of Mission Depot. With Mission Depot, you'll be able to submit the missions you have created. After a short review process, approved missions will become the next Official...
Read more...
