loose the iPhones of war ! The Army ’s foretell the winners of their first - ever mobile speech sound app exploitation contest . And the general behind the programme says some of the app program will be in the field “ within a year . ”
A aggregate of 141 soldiers and Army civilians enter in the contest , calledApps for the Army ( A4A ) , which launch on March 1st . Participants designed a total of 53 applications , mostly for Androids and iPhones , in five different categories . Twenty - five appswere curtly - list and cleared for deployment , with first - prize succeeder in each family train home $ 3,000 .
“ This portends a unlike way in which we hope to develop tools for the war machine in the time to come , ” Army Chief Information Officer Lt . Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson tells reporter . “ This eliminates essential documentation , solicitations , and the eternal sleep of the bureaucratic acquisition process that really slows us down . ”
The overall winners rove from a workout templet to an app for disaster relief efforts that allows the exploiter to search , create and edit maps using Google Earth . But in terms of battlefield utility , the most important app may be “ Sigacts ” political program for the iPhone . It let a soldier tap into the Army ’s futurist command post software ( called , I ’m not kid , “ Command Post of the Future “ ) and see about bombings and firefights in his area .
The app was grow by a team pass by Major Greg Motes . They also the contest ’s first - blank space succeeder , “ Physical Readiness Trainer . ” He enunciate his destination was to give way down “ a wall of school text ” into something more approachable . “ I heard a ecumenical comment on a unexampled physical fitness manual being circulated , and it was 400 pages long , ” he told reporters . “ We did n’t want to send away a PDF into an app , so we sat down and broke the guide down , added multimedia system . ” The team integrate exercise pictures , television and a search mathematical function to make the fitness guide user - well-disposed .
Sorenson say the Army project to host more contest , and that plans are also underway to collaborate with commercial-grade developers . But while A4A marks an impressive receptiveness to sleek developing and new computing platforms , Sorenson acknowledges the Army ’s still working out some kink .
“ We ’ve yet to figure out adequate security department encoding for iPhone and Androids , ” he say . Which makes the gadgets off - limits for most soldiers on the battlefield . And while the apps are already available for download online ( sorry , Department of Defense Common Access Card holder only ) , some had to be taken down after the Army realized developers had used Wikipedia content without acknowledging copyright .
Already , though , the Army ’s got a leg up on Darpa , the Pentagon ’s downhearted - sky inquiry arm . The agency ’s also run on battlefield lotion , but their program , “ Transformative Apps,”was shot downby the House Armed Services Committee in May . The committee noted that Sorenson ’s leadership provide “ a skinny understanding of the warfighter ’s needs and requirements . ”
“ What we wanted to do here was simple , ” Sorenson say . “ We wanted soldiers to create something that , from their position , could be useful for the Army . Something they ’d actually use . ”
And even though the apps have n’t quite hit the war geographical zone , Sorenson ’s already look for advance . All the apps will be opened source , “ so if someone else wanted to take a look , add variety , and re - host it , we would certainly receive that . ”
Photo : U.S. Air Force
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