Excellent little story, although I would like to hear it from the security contractors involved. There is no mention of the company either. So whomever was involved, if you would like to confirm this here on the blog or talk to me in private, I can make the edits to show this actually happened.
The concept of the app is great and it would be nice to get some more details about this incident. Like how the contractor found out about the Tac NAV, and did it work as advertised? It sounded like he was able to communicate the needed information for this incident, and get a UAV over the attacking force.
On the other hand though, did the Taliban run because of the UAV, or were they only conducting a ‘hit and run’ attack and they happened to be gone when the UAV arrived on scene? That is why I would like to get a little more detail before cheering this mobile app on.
Cool stuff though, and if you have a smartphone this would be a good mobile app to have, just because it doesn’t weigh anything and you can store it indefinitely on your phone. –Matt
Tactical NAV Smartphone App Directs UAV – Thwarts Taliban Attack
Jul 21, 2011
Kabul, Afghanistan – With the number of private military contractors exceeding the number of troops on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan, a growing concern for keeping contractors safe is more pressing than ever. ?On June 28, a private contractor located near Kabul came under insurgent fire while located in an area where he and his American contractors were working. The contractor immediately called the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) tactical operations center (TOC) for military support, and ISAF personnel then quickly responded by requesting the military grid reference system (MGRS) grid coordinates to the insurgent threat.?However, the contractor was not equipped with a military GPS device or a 1:50,000-scale map to give the proper MGRS coordinates to the TOC. Instead, the contractor used Tactical NAV on his iPhone, and was able to quickly and accurately provide the assisting military personnel with his location, and also the location where the insurgent fire was coming from. As a result, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was dispatched to survey the perimeter of the base, and the insurgent attack was thwarted.?Developed for Soldiers by Soldiers, Tactical NAV assists troops in mapping, plotting and photographing waypoints on the battlefield and also helps Soldiers convey coordinates to other supporting units. Tactical NAV incorporates a compass, camera and a gridded map reference system to accurately pinpoint specific locations and relay that information to other users.Device Requirements:-iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad-Requires iOS 4.2 or later-5.9
Story here.