A new kill Osama bin Laden PC video game based on the U.S. Navy SEAL raid is on its way, Forbes is reporting. KumaWar Episode 107: Osama 2011 should be available Saturday. Can similar killer apps be far away?
There’s already a Navy SEAL Fitness app featuring the elite unit’s physical fitness secrets.
Makes you wonder what apps and smartphones U.S. Navy SEALs actually used in their termination of the terrorist earlier this week. Meanwhile, apps and smartphones clearly are part of the U.S. military battle plan.
The U.S. Army has just expanded its app store. Strategy Page reports the new Army Marketplace, open only to military and authorized civilians, lists Army-approved apps, 17 for Android and 16 for iPhone. The store includes an “App Wanted” section which enables users to post descriptions of an app they need.
“If a developer (in uniform, or an army approved civilian with access to the Army Marketplace) is interested, a discussion can be started on an attached message board,” said Strategy Page. “The Army hopes that the needed app will be quickly created and made available at the Army Marketplace.”
Developers can charge for their apps. The Army is also willing to pay developers to create needed apps that have been described by military smartphone users.
In 2008, the Army began using specially equipped iPods for translation in Iraq. Smartphones are becoming essential gear for the military.
Mike McCarthy, director of the mission command complex of Future Force Integration Directorate at Fort Bliss, told Army Times: “What we’re doing is fundamentally changing how soldiers access knowledge, information, training content and operational data. The day you sign-on to be a soldier, you will be accessing information and knowledge in garrison and in an operational environment in a seamless manner. We’re using smartphone technologies to lead this.”
Last year, the Army, observing that many soldiers were using iPhones, iPods and iPads they had bought themselves, worked with Apple in an “Apps for the Army” program. They sponsored a programming contest to develop smartphone apps for the military.
For years, “front controllers” had to lug around heavy gear to call in artillery or air strikes. Now, thanks to the app contest, they’ve got an app for that, Strategy Page said.
Appolicious reported this week that the U.S. Army is working on an Android OS called the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P Handheld, to pinpoint enemy locations on a GPS map to send photos of wounds and injuries to medical staff for first-aid instructions.
Napoléon Bonaparte said an army marches on its stomach. In other words, an army can go where it is fed. These days, it’s apps that feed the masses. If he were around, no doubt Bonaparte would say an army marches on its apps.
