US Army may give soldiers smartphones

The U.S. Army is considering equipping its soldiers with smartphones to enable them to have better communication tools while in combat.

The Army is finishing a six-week trial program in New Mexico and Texas that tests how smartphones and tablets could be used in combat, CNN reports.

The phones would be used to send text message updates about their surroundings, send photographs with GPS location, look at maps and fill out reports.

"When they have a problem or need to submit a report, they default to the texting," Michael McCarthy, an Army director for the program, told CNN. "These young soldiers grew up with this technology. They're very familiar with it. They're very comfortable with it."

The pilot has been successful, and Army officials told CNN the first group of soldiers equipped with touchscreen phones and tablets could be sent overseas later this year.

McCarthy told Computerworld that the Army must now ensure that the smartphones and tablets can meet the military's security and operational considerations.

"The Army wants to know if assigned military radio frequencies can be securely used with the new generation of hand-held devices in order to support a more custom-designed network that could be set up on the go," it states.

McCarthy said others in the U.S. military services and in NATO have shown an interest in using smartphones, but the Army is the first to take it this seriously.

The phones will likely be loaded with military-specific apps.

A U.S. soldier created an app to track Taliban fighters after two of his comrades were killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan, BBC reports.

U.S. army captain Jonathan Springer made the app, called Tactical Nav, that can help a soldier decipher where enemy fire is coming from and call in an air strike.

"It combines three components," he told BBC. "A compass, a map, and a camera. It's pretty simple – but obviously it does a little more than that."