3G to the Foxhole

Lockheed Martin recently announced they have developed a solution for secure communications using 3G smartphones in the battlefield environment (http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/lockheed-martin-develops-wireless-broadband-network-battlefield-communications/2010-08-16)  This not only dramatically lowers the cost of handhelds for soldiers (a $300-500 smartphone versus a military radio that costs probably 10-100X that), but it also increases functionality and performance.  Smartphones incorporate the latest technology and applications whereas Military radios may be using 10-30 year old technology due to the length of the development and procurement cycle.  So having a soldier scan a bar code for a piece of equipment or show a Google map with the position of his squad members is a simple app on todays smartphones versus a dramatic customer development project for typical military hardware.  The Lockheed solution adds a secure sommunication link to the standard 3G solution to meet government security needs and the base stations can be on the ground or in the sky.  This is a really clever way to take advantage of technology available today and get it out there so users (soldiers) can innovate, just like the consumer app store model.  Even is they have to give each soldier 3 smartphones so they can throw them away when they break, they will still come out ahead.  I look forward to seeing lots of innovative apps coming from the battlefield.