Imagine an elite member of the Navy Seals team under fire, without radio, and isolated from his group undertaking a top-secret covert operation in some remote mountain zone in Afghanistan. The Navy Seal is alone with no communications, running out of ammunition, and in a pickle. Not to worry. Both his group, the regional command post and headquarters can easily identify and locate him at all times via a massive interconnected network linking the intranet, all networks and even mobile equipment.

This might be one of the envisioned scenarios and possibilities of the Joint Warfighters/Best Capability project(s) being designed by the U.S. military as we speak.

This incredible network under design is separate from but extends the world’s largest intranet undertaking  jointly by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corp. to network all branches of the U.S. military. This massive interconnected network may only appear to be a far flung notion, but the future combat systems design would connect every single soldier and piece of mobile equipment. However, the network is being designed and is intended to better track and coordinate operations, namely people and equipment.

According to Daniel Zanini, a former Army lieutenant-general now serving as senior vice president and program manager of SAIC (Science Applications International Corp.), one of the U.S. military’s largest contractors, there are about “360 companies and about 6,000 employees” currently working on the Joint Warfighters/Best Capability projects.

Zanini was the keynote address on Day two of the second annual RoboNexus conference. RoboNexus bills itself as the largest robotics event in North America with about 2,000 engineers and robo-geeks in attendance.

Zanini said in his address that the vision is to make "each soldier, each tank, ship and plane, just another node on a huge integrated, interoperational network system."

This interconnected network is in addition to the major intranet undertakings of the Navy, Marine Corp and Army. For those not familiar with the respective projects, EDS was hired on a US$9 billion contract (yes, that’s right, BILLION) to work with the Navy and Marine Corps to build a "comprehensive, enterprise-wide initiative that will make the full range of network-based information services available to Sailors and Marines for day-to-day activities and in war.”

The U.S. Army has a much smaller intranet initiative that weighs in with a very austere price tag of US$152 million.

PCMag.com quotes Zanini (U.S. Military Moves Toward Networked War Model) using the 2003 invasion of Iraq as an example of contrasting the potential of an interconnected armed forces and the inefficiency of a disconnected fighting force:

"We had our best ground force, the 4th Infantry Division, sitting in ships offshore for days, waiting for the signal to land," Zanini said.

"They waited and waited, because the communication about conditions and coordination with other nations' forces was not forthcoming quickly enough. They ended up landing weeks later than planned, leaving the northwestern quadrant of Iraq wide open for far too long."

Zanini said a "connected" force would have been moved into position far sooner and would have made the invasion and trek into Baghdad in less time and with fewer casualties.

During his presentation to RoboNexus, Zanini highlighted a number of other projects underway including those that involve passive reconnaissance and fighting robots including:

·         The ARV (Armed Robotic Vehicle), a 10-ton tracked or wheeled tank-like vehicle to be used in either assault or reconnaissance missions

·         The MAV (Micro Air Vehicle), a small, robot-operated hovering reconnaissance aircraft without wings controlled from the ground

·         The MULE (Multifunctional Utility Logistics Equipment vehicle), an autonomous wheeled tractor-like machine used to automate transport of munitions and supplies

No word yet as to whether the U.S. has plans to send Tamogutchi in fighting action as of yet. Though I wish they would.

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