US Military Hunts for Safe Smartphones for Soldiers

The military has long needed computers that are tough enough on the outside to withstand the rough and tumble of the battlefield. Now, with the proliferation of smartphones and tablets in the hands of soldiers, those devices also have to be strong on the inside.

They are loaded with contacts, location information and all kinds of military-grade applications, so it can be deadly for a soldier to lose a mobile device or have its data leak out unwittingly. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has now assigned Invincea, a company based in Fairfax (VA), to fortify Android-based phones and tablets so they are safe in soldiers’ hands. The $21 million grant to the company is a window into how pervasive networked technologies have become in the military – and the market that has opened up to secure them.