We’ve lamented the iPhone’s unsuitability to be used as a weapon before. An iPhone wielded in the sock makes a satisfying nunchuku, don’t get us wrong, but in the viscera-choked inferno of the modern battlefield, you’re just never going to be able to close the projectile-perforated distance between you and your enemy enough to give him a really meaty thwack upside the head with one.
But while the iPhone’s physical design has inferior potential to cause mutilative harm to your fellow man, the App Store presents marvelous opportunities for the art of warfare. At least, that’s what U.S. military contractor Raytheon thinks, having just announced a range of military-oriented apps for the iPhone that will help soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan use their handsets for war.
The only app they have announced so far is called One Force Tracker, which uses both satellite positioning and mobile networks to give soldiers constantly updated field maps which automatically track the position of both friendly troops and enemy fighters in real time. Troops can even use One Force Tracker to securely communicate with one another.
It actually seems more like a PR stunt than anything else: the iPhone is a wonderfully designed phone, but its easily fractured glass touchscreen isn’t exactly a made match for dealing with the flying shrapnel of burst artillery shells, shattered glass and exploded teeth.
Still, Raytheon says that One Force Tracker isn’t just for the battlefield: they also cite it as potentially being useful for emergency workers like doctors and firefighters responding to major incidents.
Either way, don’t expect to see this on the App Store: presumably, insurgents can download apps too.
