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 centre (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 aircraft 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 MB
Tactical NAV 2.0 is $5.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Navigation category. AppDaddy Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2010 by Jonathan J. Springer in order to provide low-cost mobile solutions to Soldiers at home and abroad.
Source: AppModo