The US Army is wrapping up testing of smartphones and their operating systems to determine if they are going to equip the soldiers with smartphones, according to Michael McCarthy, the director for operations, Brigade Modernization Command, Mission Command Complex at Fort Bliss. They have been testing COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) smartphones for several months now to determine which can be issued for soldiers.

The US Army is not just testing smartphone hardware, they have been incubating smartphone applications, with their Apps 4 Army program, inviting developers from the within and outside the organization to come out with innovative ideas to bring information to soldiers, whether off the field or within the base cost effectively. There have been some very useful applications and some efforts to help bring real time intelligence to the troops undergoing a mission.

So far, some of the smartphones, while not being certified as militarty grade, have suprisingly shown some ruggedness during the tests, and they were used bare. These smartphones should be supported by telecommunications carriers around the world so they can be readily connected to cell sites when used and the US Army are looking into putting up wireless networks instantly, wherever the troops are deployed. Perhaps using mobile or portable cell sites that can send and receive from the smart phones on the field, then via military communications satellites or even commercial satellites, handle all the communications of soldiers, and help send and receive instructions and information.

One issue with fast moving technologies such as smartphones is how they can affect existing frequencies in use by military for mission-critical use. The frequencies may interfer with some equipment and thus they are also being tested to see if interference is non-existent or minimal --- the better to have clear lines of communications and equipment working efficiently. One are is to have these smartphones to do frequency hopping to find open but secure frequencies for them to use, with minimum intervention on the part of the user.

Overall, the Army is testing 1,200 gadgets ranging from smartphones and tablet devices and several mobile operating systems such as the iOs, Android, Windows Mobile, and WebOS. The strongest candidates are iOS and Android as they have the largest number of developers and supported apps. The US Army might settle for two mobile operating systems  to avoid too many OSes to port the apps to and maintain uniformity in equipment.

This is also big for mobile developers, mobile phone manufacturers, and mobile OS maintainers. The US army has over 1 million personnel, ranging from active duty soldiers, National Guard, and the reserves. And if successful, there US Navy, Marines, and Air Force are possible candidates too for such smartphone program. Magpul is already in position with their field cases for the iPhone series.

As to when the US Army will announce when they will be issuing approved OSes, and smartphones, they have not indicated the exact date.

When these get approved, soldiers might be clamoring for some Angry Birds Kabul or Abbotabad.