Soldiers to get new AI capable radios, headsets and tablets with futuristic sensor data
www.gov.uk
British soldiers will be able to make faster, better decisions on the battlefield through thousands of new radios, headsets and tablets.
  • New communications systems will give commanders faster battlefield information and speed up decision-making.
  • Ministry of Defence(MOD) awards contract worth up to £86 million to British-based SME for advanced tactical communication systems, such as radios and tablets.
  • Contract creates 12 UK defence industry jobs and builds on successful deployment in Estonia.
  • Sims@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    2 hours ago

    What does 7 ‘Ai-sets’ with tablets costs ? Seems like an unnecessary addition for such a small army ?

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6·
    8 hours ago

    So, as far as I can see, this is basically just the same networked soldier tech that every modern military is using. Canada has had this stuff in the field for a while (mostly with 3RCR, and I think 3PPCLI), with plans to expand to the entire reg force once we work the kinks out. It’s pretty much just a way of giving soldiers a map screen where commanders can draw orders, and also giving them a camera so they can directly feed back visual intel. Helps cut back fog of war.

    In the article itself the only hint of AI is the note that these devices will be “AI capable” which is kind of a no shit Sherlock. Literally these systems already use off the shelf smart devices connected up to a hardened comms system. The Canadian one is built on Samsung S22s. Of course its “AI capable”, anything with a CPU is.

    My suspicion is that the UK military just really wanted this networked soldier capability (its a good program, that’s why everyone is doing it), and knew that they could get the funding more easily if they snuck the word AI in there because the current UK government has an absolute raging hard on for anything remotely AI related.

    • Armand1@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      41 minutes ago

      AI radios

      Looks inside

      No AI

      Jokes aside, this is a common thing in tech / software at the moment.

      You can make fantastic software and systems, but unless you slap an AI label on it, big companies and organisations will not want to pay for it, or will pass you over for a product that says it has it, even if it’s dogshit.

      AI (or, more accurately, machine learning) can bring value, but so can a lot of other features.