Smartphone on the battlefield

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In the 1920s and 1930s (interwar period), the luxury car finally became a means of transportation. The motorization of America took place, and the first traffic jams appeared in London. Soon the car became the main character of the 2nd World War, nicknamed "the war of engines".

Today there is a similar situation with drones, smartphones and other gadgets. Obviously, the soldier of the future will be hung with electronics. Karabakh successes of drones are the first signs. What difference can one drone and one smartphone per fighter bring to the battlefield? Camera, processor, GPS, digital communications…



Physical events such as missile launches, explosions and even just shots are very different from the natural background and can be detected automatically in real time. This is, perhaps, a much simpler task than the Tesla autopilot, which has to read road signs. A sufficiently heavy drone can detect such events with coordinates and transmit in real time. But devices of the scale of a smartphone can detect such events, albeit with less accuracy, and also transmit this data in real time. Having received a cloud of such events, you can compare them, "triangulate" and turn them into target designation for automated weapons systems - again in real time. Thus, a fighter connected to the network acts not only with his weaponsbut also with all friendly weapons within reach. Moreover, both intentionally, through target designation, and unwittingly, through the detection of smartphone DSP events and their transmission in real time. Such a smartphone can fight separately from the fighter!

Actually, the very need to send a soldier (gunner of the machine gun) forward will gradually disappear, because you can just as well send a drone with a smartphone forward. It's funny that even IS militants (banned in the Russian Federation) have already experimented with remotely controlled weapons - this is because of their "industrial base".

All of these technologies will require the development of data networks on the battlefield, and this is a much more complex task than civilian GSM or even the former military TCP / IP (Internet). It will be a packet digital network of an arbitrarily changing topology, where nodes prefer to be silent most of the time (after all, no one wants to “shine” in the radio band).

In addition to the prospect of drone wars, such innovations could seriously change the balance of power in the arms market. After all, all "smart" weapons systems will have to work in a single network. This means that all the ecosystem effects that are present in the smartphone market are included. To roughly imagine the consequences, it suffices to pay attention to how America anathematized Huawei.

FUTURE COMBAT SYSTEMS BG N. Lee S. Price
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42 comments
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  1. +3
    20 October 2020 12: 09
    The fact that the interaction of troops with the help of new communication technologies is improving is a fact. But to fight, to fight with a serious adversary - here the author unsuccessfully mentioned smartphones (when the wind is strong for me, the connection is interrupted, but there is also electronic warfare in addition to the wind ...) While analyzing open information on command and control, you understand that in the military sphere, the electronic revolution is ahead ...
    1. +2
      20 October 2020 12: 22
      Quote: Vitaly Tsymbal
      here the author unsuccessfully mentioned smartphones

      Yes, very in vain. In general, it is clear what he meant. But for a civilian smartphone in position, you need to prosecute. Determining the exact location of a soldier using a smartphone is a relatively simple task, there is no need for particularly sophisticated equipment.
      1. +2
        20 October 2020 13: 05
        I read about the program for controlling mortar fire back in the days of Debaltsevo. And yes, modern smartphones strongly unmask soldiers with their radio signals due to antennas with a circular directivity pattern. For Petrich networks, he needs other antennas for their wars: horn antennas that aim at the source of data transmission. They are more difficult to detect, although the signal will still scatter in the atmosphere. It is very difficult to make such antennas, because it must be a microscopic phased antenna array in a horn design, operating on SAW. Well, AI for drones is inevitable in future wars, so that the data transfer stream on the air is minimal.
        1. +2
          20 October 2020 13: 07
          The ballistic computer on the iPad is already a classic.
      2. 0
        22 October 2020 15: 48
        I didn't literally mean smartphones.
        But rather a set of camera, processor, digital radio, etc.
        Continuing my analogy, in World War II, people did not fight in their personal civilian cars ...
        1. -1
          22 October 2020 15: 51
          The allegory is clear, the article is good. I have a simple reaction to the word "smartphone", as they say what they taught.
    2. 0
      20 October 2020 12: 27
      While analyzing open information on command and control, you understand that in the military sphere the electronic revolution is ahead.

      This is what we were talking about 2 years ago - Karabakh showed it well.
      Network-centric is the future.
      And on this topic there should be as many articles on VO as possible.
    3. +2
      20 October 2020 13: 23
      The American military industry is now actively using and developing the concept of COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf - "commercial off the shelves").

      This is the use of civilian products from American / Western companies as supporting equipment and system components. Why make a "military" smartphone at the Lockheed Martin plant when it is already being made at the Apple plant? Of course, there is some modification of the operating system, the cover or case is made stronger, etc.
      Likewise with personal computers and laptops, and other things.

      A smartphone, for example, is used as a ballistic calculator for a sniper - there is a simple program for calculations. You can also use the camera to estimate the distance to the target ...
      At the same time, there are also "smart" optical sights, which are adjusted more conveniently from the screen.

      At the same time, the smartphone can be in radio silence mode, receive warning signals or, in emergency situations, automatically notify of injuries or deaths of a soldier by sensors, and report exact coordinates. A modern radio station is already, in fact, the same smartphone in a shock-resistant case.

      By the way, some of the smartphones sold now have the Push-To-Talk (Push-To-Talk) function - this is the functionality of a walkie-talkie that bypasses the base station, that is, directly between the devices.

      I would like to note that such an approach, COTS, is implemented not only based on the practicality and speed of implementation, but also from the economy. We know how fabulous purely military developments are in America! hi
      1. +2
        20 October 2020 19: 03
        Quote: RealPilot
        The American military industry is now actively using and developing the concept of COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf - "commercial off the shelves")

        In fact, the COTS technology you named is a small part of the whole direction Of The Shelf Technology - whole technologies off the shelf: you do not need to reinvent what already exists and works: take it, whether it be hardware or software, integrate it into any chain.
        In fact, this is probably correct and has a positive effect on the final cost.
  2. 0
    20 October 2020 12: 12
    Today, a similar situation has developed with drones, smartphones and other gadgets. Obviously, the soldier of the future will be hung with electronics. The Karabakh drone successes are the first signs.

    It looks like a "swallow", but it is good only at the time, but thanks to her, everyone will understand that it is not necessary to fight with the "swallow", but to do (drown out) these gadgets so that they do not work. And this is much easier and cheaper to do than to create these gadgets (at this stage in time).
  3. +1
    20 October 2020 12: 13
    Technique with progress does not stand still
  4. 0
    20 October 2020 12: 14
    At shtatovshev, when they show their warriors, it is always in the foreground, the most dashing fighter is "sanyok".
  5. -3
    20 October 2020 12: 18
    Well, against the "Papuans" a smartphone may help ... and so ... you turn on a dull jammer ... and at 500 meters no device will catch a connection ... if this is a "dumb jammer" ... wassat and if smart ... feel will be like in a joke - "... And figs he will slip through me! I have been driving for 25 years!" bully hi
    1. +1
      20 October 2020 13: 23
      and so ... you turn on a stupid jammer ... and at 500 meters not a single device will catch a connection ...

      A dull jammer and even the smartest one, emitting, perfectly betray its location ... a "bang-bang" follows and the jammer stalled ...
      1. -2
        20 October 2020 14: 58
        Quote: pytar
        and so ... you turn on a stupid jammer ... and at 500 meters not a single device will catch a connection ...

        A dull jammer and even the smartest one, emitting, perfectly betray its location ... a "bang-bang" follows and the jammer stalled ...

        ok) the cost of 1 "bang-bang" for one jammer (even made by China) is hundreds (if not thousands of times) more expensive than a jammer ... earlier, in WWII, tank hedgehogs (at cost) were more expensive, but tanks were stopped effectively soldier

        and now ... instead of minefields, it will be enough to make "jammer fields" ... soldier
        1. -2
          20 October 2020 16: 46
          the cost of 1 "bang-bang" for one jammer (even made by China) is hundreds (if not thousands of times) more expensive than a jammer ...

          Jammers of the "scatter type" are really cheap, but they have a limited power and frequency, and their operating time is limited. They can be "turned off" without incurring large costs.
          it will be enough to make "fields of jammers"

          They make such in Bulgaria, they go very well on the international market. hi
          By the way, you are right about something - so far, "smart smartphones" are not that smart. But on the horizon there are systems of artificial intelligence that can make decisions without being connected to the network. They will also be able to communicate through other methods. If I am not mistaken, there was a post on VO on the topic.
          1. +2
            20 October 2020 17: 02
            Quote: pytar
            the cost of 1 "bang-bang" for one jammer (even made by China) is hundreds (if not thousands of times) more expensive than a jammer ...

            Jammers of the "scatter type" are really cheap, but they have a limited power and frequency, and their operating time is limited. They can be "turned off" without incurring large costs.
            it will be enough to make "fields of jammers"

            They make such in Bulgaria, they go very well on the international market. hi
            By the way, you are right about something - so far, "smart smartphones" are not that smart. But on the horizon there are systems of artificial intelligence that can make decisions without being connected to the network. They will also be able to communicate through other methods. If I am not mistaken, there was a post on VO on the topic.

            My first "white noise generator" in my life, aka the most primitive jammer - I collected from the available radio components 35 years ago according to the scheme in "Young Technique" (the magazine was like this in the USSR for children) hi it was worth a penny then, but now let it be rubles ... for 500 meters as if I then chopped off everything around bully
            1. 0
              20 October 2020 18: 12
              "white noise generator" aka the most primitive jammer - I collected from the available radio components 35 years ago according to the scheme in "Yuno Tekhnika" (the magazine was such in the USSR for children) hi cost a penny then, but now let it be rubles ... for 500 meters as if I then chopped off everything bully


              This is yes. Only since 1985 has the complexity and noise immunity of what needs to be chopped off slightly increased.
              1. +1
                20 October 2020 18: 35
                Quote: Lex_is
                "white noise generator" aka the most primitive jammer - I collected from the available radio components 35 years ago according to the scheme in "Yuno Tekhnika" (the magazine was such in the USSR for children) hi cost a penny then, but now let it be rubles ... for 500 meters as if I then chopped off everything bully


                This is yes. Only since 1985 has the complexity and noise immunity of what needs to be chopped off slightly increased.

                only 1000+ US $. and during negotiations in the meeting room, no smartphone or any device will overhear even with a laser through the window what will be discussed there hi sold on every corner, proven by practice)))
            2. +1
              20 October 2020 18: 37
              My first "white noise generator" in my life, aka the most primitive jammer - I collected from the available radio components 35 years ago according to the scheme in "Young Technique" (the magazine was like this in the USSR for children)

              Packs of numbers, "Yunoga Technique" are still in my possession! good We could subscribe for all Soviet magazines and newspapers! And I subscribed "on a large scale" for everything! bully When the period for ordering subscriptions was approaching, Mom and Dad were looking for shelter! A long bazaar followed and negotiations, something was crossed out, but still the list remained long! lol
              1. 0
                20 October 2020 18: 56
                Quote: pytar
                My first "white noise generator" in my life, aka the most primitive jammer - I collected from the available radio components 35 years ago according to the scheme in "Young Technique" (the magazine was like this in the USSR for children)

                Packs of numbers, "Yunoga Technique" are still in my possession! good We could subscribe for all Soviet magazines and newspapers! And I subscribed "on a large scale" for everything! bully When the period for ordering subscriptions was approaching, Mom and Dad were looking for shelter! A long bazaar followed and negotiations, something was crossed out, but still the list remained long! lol

                When I left for the army, my younger brother handed over all my files of "Young Technician" and "Technique - Youth" for waste paper, with the money he made he arranged his first date "at the highest level." bully of course I gave him the cuffs when I returned from the army - but it was too late crying
                When and if you get tired of keeping magazines at your place - write)
  6. +3
    20 October 2020 12: 21
    Actually, the very need to send a soldier (gunner of the machine gun) forward will gradually fade away, because you can just as well send a drone forward with a smartphone.
    The dream of couch warriors! The author, apparently, one of them, dreams of how he, without getting up from the couch, "drone and smartphone" will smash enemies. The main thing. so that your hands do not get tired.
  7. 0
    20 October 2020 12: 26
    Soon the car became the main character of the 2nd World War, nicknamed "the war of engines".

    The war of the future is a network centric war.
  8. -1
    20 October 2020 12: 32
    hmm ... courage is gradually leaving the army and the military profession. The position of a gambling addict wins: he hovered the cursor, pressed a button and somewhere within 1000 km your enemies died. And what threatens you, it's only hemorrhoids, from sitting for a long time at the monitor screen
    1. +5
      20 October 2020 13: 02
      Swords, Bows and arrows are also that ...
      1. +1
        21 October 2020 04: 24
        Swords, Bows and arrows are also that ...

        what have swords got to do with it? Why write without reading or thinking? I meant that with the vision of gadgets that allow almost all clashes to be transferred to the category of remote ones, the participants in these battles are no longer required personal courage... The operator sees only objects 1000 km away, often in the form of symbols. He not only does not experience the stress that a real fighter experiences, but sometimes even lacks that understanding of the fact of killing another person. And along with this, and remorse. What is inherent in computer game players - they simply understand that they only kill symbols generated by the computer.
        And you just to blur it out .... I'm generally silent about the minus. These brains did not develop further than a stupid shooter.
        1. 0
          21 October 2020 09: 28
          The calculation of the air defense system, also does not see the enemy in the face, but presses the keys ...
          1. +1
            21 October 2020 09: 49
            from the military profession gradually courage goes away

            word gradually flew out of the thought chain? Synonyms for the word are gradually: over time, over and over again, step by step, etc.
            although the short-range air defense system still requires that courage, tk. are quite within reach of tactical weapons
    2. +6
      20 October 2020 18: 04
      Either the puny gambling addicts minus, the fur coat is already wrapped up.
  9. +1
    20 October 2020 12: 48
    technologies will require the development of data networks on the battlefield, and this is a much more complex task than civilian GSM or even the former military TCP / IP (Internet).

    The obvious and necessary! The task is not trivial and how does the current technology allow it to be realized ???
    It is unlikely that this will be painted in advertising booklets.
  10. +1
    20 October 2020 12: 50
    Huawei for another reason was anathematized ... Otherwise, I agree with the author. In hybrid warfare, the smartphone is a real weapon. Anonymous telegram channels. Trump won the 2016 election on Twitter.
  11. +2
    20 October 2020 13: 00
    A short circuit will be the best weapon))) hello to Edison and Tesla)))
    1. +4
      20 October 2020 13: 53
      Quote: Alien From
      A short circuit will be the best weapon))) hello to Edison and Tesla)))

      I agree, electro-magnetic impulse and goodbye electronics))
  12. +2
    20 October 2020 13: 08
    The role of electronics in modern warfare is growing, it is an axiom. It becomes all the sadder when you look at our electronics industry.
  13. -3
    20 October 2020 13: 31
    Lockheed creates a single integrated system of Australian troops.
    1. +2
      20 October 2020 19: 10
      Probably it would be more correct to say that they are creating an even more advanced integrated control system.
      Lockheed Martin Oceanic Division has been doing this successfully for a long time. The entire air defense system of newborn European democracies is built around lockheed technologies; how it happened is another story. And all these separate systems were quite successfully integrated into the air defense of western Europe. At the same time, they did not forget to leave the illusion of independence.
  14. 0
    20 October 2020 14: 23
    Adnak progress.
    Not so long ago, even during our lifetime, the general designer declared: "I will not shoot with locators." And now every schoolchild has in his pocket "a computer more powerful than the one that controlled the entire space group of the USSR."
    And plus with a camera, with image recognition and so on, so on, so on ...
    The main thing here is to establish an anti-jamming connection, but about an electromagnetic pulse, so every military electronic circuit must withstand even in a nuclear explosion.
    I do not know, however, whether our factories make processors that are at least approximately equal to those in children's Chinese smartphones.
    For example, 6 years ago, the director of the research institute where I once worked as an engineer told on TV that we make such wonderful rockets because they send us wonderful microcircuits from America.
  15. 0
    20 October 2020 14: 44
    "The iron horse is replacing the peasant horse!" (C) and nothing can be done about it ... request
    The author - with a start! drinks
    Keep it up! good
  16. -1
    20 October 2020 18: 30
    "What changes can one drone and one smartphone bring to the battlefield?"

    No.
    The armies have different tasks and a completely different level of their solution, which have been solved for 40 years. And these solutions have gone very far from "smartphones and other gadgets"
    It seems that the author spent 20 years in suspended animation, got out of it and watched a report about Karabakh.
    1. 0
      22 October 2020 15: 55
      For a review to be useful, it's best to state exactly what you mean.
  17. -1
    20 October 2020 20: 50
    Quote: Pete Mitchell
    Quote: RealPilot
    The American military industry is now actively using and developing the concept of COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf - "commercial off the shelves")

    In fact, the COTS technology you named is a small part of the whole direction Of The Shelf Technology - whole technologies off the shelf: you do not need to reinvent what already exists and works: take it, whether it be hardware or software, integrate it into any chain.
    In fact, this is probably correct and has a positive effect on the final cost.

    It is the same. Speech about the direction, you mentioned one more name of the concept. I agree, there is such - civil technologies, they are also commercial. And all from the shelves wink
  18. 0
    21 October 2020 13: 58
    All these technologies will require the development of data networks on the battlefield, and this is a much more complex task than civil GSM or even in the past military TCP / IP (Internet).

    Data transmission networks are just built on the basis of the TCP \ IP protocol stack. There are no contradictions here. It is not for nothing that the Americans bought 10 million IPv100500 addresses 6 years ago.
    And then everything is simple: the Internet of Things in military execution.

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