Arms for Android

With the advent of smartphones and other technological advancements, we've begun to enjoy a plethora of tools that enable us to find nearby restaurants, communicate with people around the world and even keep track of our friends and family members. These are ingenious applications but for the most part are used mostly for convenience. Defense contractor Raytheon is about to change that with their new Google Android powered application known as the Raytheon Android Tactical System (RATS). This program, similarly to Google's latitude, allows for military officers to keep track of other soldiers out in combat as well as their drones. It also allows for soldiers to upload photographs and other data to the Department of Defense's private network. This will be a great way to keep track of soldiers that may go missing or platoons that are under attack.

My only real concern is that all networks, no matter how secure, can get hacked into. We must remember that we're putting this program on a consumer product; generally, these products have some built in security but not necessarily at the level that you would want for someone carrying important military information such as the positions of large military outfits. If, during the course of a military conflict, a terrorist hacker was able to find the exact location of American troops, I would think that it would be quite detrimental. Hopefully Raytheon has taken that into consideration while developing this application. Either way, it's a cool and useful use of the new technologies that are before us; hopefully more of the same will quickly be instituted and we manage better and safer ways to protect those who risk their lives to protect us.