The US Army wants to equip soldiers with smartphones as a part of their standard equipment – leaving it up to individuals to decide which one they want.
The Army would issue these smartphones just like any other piece of equipment a soldier receives and pay the bills, too. Two types would be offered, the iPhone or an Android phone.
“One of the options potentially is to make it a piece of equipment in a soldier’s clothing bag,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center.
Army-issued smart phones are already a reality: some new recruits have them at at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Fort Lee, Va.; and at Fort Sill, Okla., under an Army program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications. CSDA’s next step, already underway at Fort Bliss, Texas, is testing for the war zone.
This is the start of a new smartphone and gadget deployment that will launch more forcefully in February 2011 with the brigade combat team modernization program. The Army plans to roll out wireless Common Access Card readers for the iPhone in January and for Android phones in April granting soldiers secure access to their e-mail, contacts and calendars.
“We’re looking at everything from iPads to Kindles to Nook readers to mini-projectors,” said Mike McCarthy, director of the mission command complex of Future Force Integration Directorate at Fort Bliss.
The Army is open to using multiple phones, according to Rickey Smith, the director of ARCIC-Forward.
“We’re not wedded to a specific piece of hardware. We are open to using Palm Trios, the Android, iPhone or whatever else is out there,” Smith said. Vane said he carries both an iPhone and an Android.
Via Army Times
