IN THE Afghanistan and Kosovo conflicts, military mistakes led to air strikes against the wrong buildings, against civilians or on friendly forces. One cause of such tragedies is misinformation from the battlefield—perhaps because troops transmit the wrong target coordinates, or are simply misheard.
To address the problem, the Pentagon has commissioned a new battlefield targeting system based on a raft of sensing and communications technologies, controlled by a hand-held Pocket PC. It will go into service with US Special Forces next year.
The super-palmtop will combine laser rangefinding, GPS satellite positioning, a satellite phone and text messaging. Called JEDI,…
