The Role of ICT in the military

Introduction

-         ICT means information and communication Technology.

A major backbone of the ICT is the internet .

The internet came about as a result of the need for collaboration between NATO and the US Army during the cold war.

The US Army needed a system that will make it possible to decentralize information and make information sharing safer as the Russians were tapping into the phone time of the Americans. This brought about the ARPANET America Research Project Agency network which was developed by the department of the defense before National science foundation came in and develop their network and so on and so forth.

The idea is that the military is the genesis of the internet as we have it today.

Different applications of ICT in the military intelligence.

• -          Information gathering and dissemination
• -          Smart weapons
• -          Network centric battle fields management systems
• -          Real time combat surveillances
• -          Air and outer space superiority
• -          Soft ware based force multipliers  
• -          Logistics
• -          Command and control
• -          21^st century soldier

Smart weapons: (i) Able to hit its target without hitting the surroundings.

(ii) Smart weapons are highly efficient and sharply accurate

(III) Military personnel would talk or communicate with weapon under their command they can ask the weapon to seek and destroy very specific target

(IV) Killer robot are replacing human in battle field and are sharply accurate

Network centric battle fields management system:

-New approach of managing battlefields by utilizing ICT advantages

-  A commander could monitor the troops advancement to enemy lines and their position in the battlefield. No of casualties as well as the level of ammunitions supply.

Real time combat surveillances : The details of the combat events are fed at the real time to command centre. They are equipped with advance electronic devices that help them decode which retains to follow , enable them to calculate precisely the range between enemy target and their position .

Air and outer space superiority: unmanned  aerial vehicle UAV that can fly independently to remote areas hundreds of kilometers from its lunch base.

Military satellites that could monitor multiple targets round the clouck all thes help many countries to achieve air and other outer space superiority.

Software based force multiplier: The focus has shifted from hardware based forc multipliers to software based force multipliers.  * Long range radar * Battlefield management system *Global positioning system * Missile active guide system.

Logistics : The armed forces have a very complex supply chain where the right items needs to be in the right place . logistics are handle with thehelp of ICT where items are tracked by technologies such as bar codes and REID devices.

Command and control: From a digital radio backpack carried by a soldier to a sophiscated satellite system. With a secure commiunication system command and control can be done through a seamless communication network.

21^st century soldier:   situational awareness is the key term . imagine a platoon where every soidiler knows exactly where their comrade are in real time through a helmet mounted display. The can also connect to real time videos from hovering cameras if need be.