Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/337874
D DIGITAL ARMY 32 JUNE/JULY 2014 www.vanguardcanada.com Check your phone by Vanguard Staff O ver the years at various defence fora, Major Bruce Gil- christ has challenged defence industry with "finding Waldo" – developing a small arms-based technology to identify, target and share data on a lone shooter or assailant in a large crowd. Last month at RAMPART, a small weapons demonstration in Ottawa, Colt Canada and General Dynamics Canada highlighted an alternative to radio-centric soldier systems that integrates the networking and computational capabilities of a smartphone with the sensors on a standard C7 rifle. Not only is it possible to find, identify and display Waldo on a screen connected to the rifle, that information, including exact target location, can be shared with other shooters and command elements. SWORD, short for Soldier, Weapon, Observer Reconnaissance Devices, is a target and blue force command and control system that introduces networking into the battlespace in a way that is instantly recognizable to a generation of soldiers for whom smart- phones and tablets have become ubiquitous. The phone would allow a sniper and spotter, for example, to ac- quire a bearing angle and picture of a target through the rifle, trans- mit in back and forth for verification, all in a matter of seconds and all in an easily understandable digital format. That's a significant dif- ference, says Jeff MacLeod, general manager of Colt Canada and a former army Electrical and Mechanical Engineering officer. "It used to be done all through voice. With this kind of system, the spotter could be half a kilometre away and still communicate it very quickly." Moreover, if a soldier is under fire or otherwise cannot engage the target, that data can be passed to others in his section. That capability also makes SWORD the "ultimate indirect fire" solu- tion, MacLeod says, using the phone to calculate and share grid reference and trajectory data with artillery, vehicles or close air support. It can also do much of the work required to employ a grenade launcher. "All we really need is a point on the map," he explained. "We can either inject that point through the system or you can input it via the touchscreen. And then it's just a matter of engaging the grenade launcher mode, and as you move the grenade launcher up, down and sideways, your bearing angle and your target impact point moves." No more calculating target locations on a map in the thick of a fire fight. "With this, you lase the target, press the button, it's all done for you." Rick Fawcett, GDC's director of business development for land and joint solutions, says there is still a mindset barrier to over- come for officers who see the smartphone as "hugely expensive and not tactically robust." But for a fraction of the cost of a hand held radio or display that meets military specifications, financially constrained militaries like Canada's could equip an entire B fleet of vehicles with a smartphone that would provide blue positional awareness and a display, he notes. "You can buy a lot of smart- phones for the price of a single radio." WHERE'S WALDO?