This article, somewhat in response to the Draper article was posted in the Rome Sentinel. Its a quick overview of ATAK and TAKServer. From the article,
Using a smartphone on a battlefield to call for air strikes on precise locations is among the latest military advancements — and it could generate further technology patents for the Rome Air Force Research Laboratory.
The lab and several private-sector contractors including a PAR Government Systems subsidiary in Rome are developing an Android Tactical Assault Kit/ ATAK application that can run on smartphones and Android tablets.
“I believe that the combination of smartphones (‘instant on, small, powerful computers with touch displays and high-resolution, sunlight-readable displays), combined with networked radios (which are also relatively new to the battlefield) are fundamentally transformative for war fighting,” Ralph Kohler, a Rome AFRL principal engineer on the project, said by e-mail.
The application including handheld devices “allows users to personally get an up-to-the second understanding of what’s going on around them (reducing ‘the fog of war’), and allows them to remotely access information and control sensors.”
