Raytheon, the name synonymous with battlefield technology and warfare strategy, is now developing software that runs on the Android platform as a solution to issues in the battlefield. The application being developed utilizes maps and a “buddy list” to assist soldiers in detecting enemies. Someone call Liam Neeson and Mr. T, because this is freaking awesome.
According to an article over at Mobile Media, Raytheon has dubbed the app the “Raytheon Android Tactical System”, aka – RATS. To give you an idea of how it would be used, they give you a real-life example:
“…a soldier could tag an unmanned plane as a “buddy,” track its progress on a map using the phone and then access streaming video from the plane for a bird's eye view of the area.”
They go on to state that military personnel could interact with each other as “buddies” and track the locations of other members of their group or squad, as well as help identify potential enemies. Mark Bigham, Raytheon's VP of Business Developments, states, “we're trying to take advantage of smartphone technology to tailor for what soldiers may need in the field. Google has helped us push the limits of the phone.” He also tells us that one of the main reasons Android was chosen was because of it's open-source ways, which have made development easier on their thus-tested Motorola and HTC devices.
Raytheon is also looking at adding “lightweight encryption”, so as to assist in securing the reliability and untraceability of the app. They also mention that it will have recognition software so as to be rendered useless in enemy hands, and say that it could even be used as a biometric scanner to be used to gather and store fingerprints.
[via MobileMedia]
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That is as you said, “freakin’ awesome!”