November 19, 1999

The US Army has issued a $5 million contract to Harris Corporation to provide 50 Falcon II (PRC-138B) radios to 33 medical units. These can transmit both voice and data, and will allow data on wounded or injured personnel to be transmitted almost instantly to distant medical experts who can offer advice on treatment procedures. The radios will be used for 8-10 years until the new digital radios come into service.--Stephen V Cole


The US Army is already using one element of the Brigade & Below battle command computer network to coordinate patrols in Bosnia. The system is being run on 20 Fieldworks-2000 embedded vehicle computers, which display the position of patrols (reported automatically through GPS) on the screens of commanders.--Stephen V Cole