Missile crew training uses iPhones

VIENNA, Va., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The first segment in a series of iPhone mobile applications developed by C2 Technologies Inc. for Patriot Missile crews has been delivered to the U.S. Army.

C2 Technologies, which has headquarters in Virginia, said the mobile applications are part of the Army's Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications program and were developed using the Unity 3-D game development platform.

It incorporates video of Patriot missile crews in action as well as 3-D animation and illustrations.

"Mobile apps on hand-held devices allow the soldier to train any time, any place and can provide access to critical information in the field," said Dolly Oberoi, C2's founder and chief executive officer. "They leverage the ability to train outside the traditional classroom, improve training effectiveness and can greatly reduce resources required."

The Army selected C2 to develop a series of mobile apps for training Patriot missile crews last September. Using a "develop once, use twice" technical approach, C2 developed mobile apps that can be used on laptops and desktop computers as well as iPhones.

As part of the project, C2 is producing complementary interactive multimedia instruction lessons for use in a classroom with an instructor.

The training covers positioning and readying the Patriot missile system to launch and fire and includes a mobile app and associated classroom training for each of the following areas: launch station march order and emplacement; radar march order and emplacement; engagement control station march order and emplacement; antenna mast group march order and emplacement; and electrical power plant march order and emplacement.