Snipers in Afghanistan Use iPhone to Kill Taliban

[Cyberjester]

When you think about it, sniping is actually a hell of a lot more complicated than it is in, say, Team Fortress 2, where it's essentially "point crosshairs and shoot." In real life, there are tons of factors that can affect where exactly your bullet ends up once it leaves the barrel of the gun: ballistics, wind velocity - even something like the rotation of the Earth itself.

Sniper Elite, Sniper: Art of Victory, quite a few more I can't find/remember atm.

well they aint lieing...theirs an app for everything, soon there will be an app to help you decide which movie to watch lol

It's an IMDB link in. =P

 

[RogueDarkJedi]

Pretty cool. Wonder if this is available on iTunes. And if so, what's to keep the terrorists from using it?

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

I dunno if it's for real, but one of the "Join The Army" adverts over here features a guy flying a UAV. WITH AN XBOX 360 CONTROLLER

That's nothing. I've an ad with a guy flying a PLANE. WITH MINDS

(it sounds better with the grammatical error).

Killing the Taliban- there's an app for that!

Gold star for you mate.

 

[SpaceSpork]

I'm fairly sure they actually do use 360 controllers to fly the UAVs.

What's next, using Wii Wheels to drive tanks? I can imagine that . . .
"Hey, Steve! Look out for that turtle shell!"
"Oh, no, Bob! That's not a turtle shell! That's a mine!"
BOOOOOM!

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

I was really hoping this would be a "Hey, rummy, we got osama'a iphone #."
"OK, ring it, hack it to lower the reception bars so he stands up for better reception....."

 

[LeonLethality]

This sounds cool and all but what about making an app for cleaner decapitations with swords, ninjas have their work cut out for them too y'know

 

[Pimppeter2]

I'm tempted to go download lime 50000 copies of this app, just so that the government will stalk me for a couple of days

 

[Nova5]

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

They even have this in their iTunes+Quicktime Terms of Service:

You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles, or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

As for the OT: While the BulletFlight app is undoubtedly awesome/confusing at the same time, I find myself more astounded by the attachment on that M110. That's.. Just... Good god, man, someone actually made an RIS attachment for it. iPods officially have attachments for everything, from your car to your goddamn rifle.

 

[teutonicman]

I'm really surprised that this app was developed. I would have thought that a device like that app would have already been issued to snipers.

 

[teutonicman]

What ISN'T there an App for?

Japanese tentacle rape.

 

[Dogstile]

I wish you journalists/writers weren't so easy everytime someone felt like pulling a fast one for some free publicity.

The last one I read was that the NSA was using a cluster of PS3s to crack codes or cipher through some bandwidth or whatever, which is just as obviously bullshit. Sony for one has been pulling that stunt for the longest time now, and it's sad that the military and defence establishments don't have more sense than to whore themselves out like that.

There's a reason why snipers prefer bolt-action rifles - And that is because they're precise and RELIABLE due to their simplicity. Snipers are trained to never take any chance on anything within their control. You give a 3 year old an iPhone and it's gonna be broken within 2 hours tops, which means you basically don't want to take it into a warzone in any way, shape or form, since it is very much fallible. It's a great phone, but you don't want your effectiveness/life depending on it.

Add to that the fact that you already have all sorts of purpose-built trajectory calculators widely available, as well as the fact that most experienced snipers just do the maths in their heads, and make sure their rifles are zeroed before ever firing a shot in anger (It's only in computer games that you ever go outside the zero) and you have yourself one bullshit story.

Fair enough, it's funny if you don't know any better, and I should shrug it off instead of grumping about it, but you just take the bait every damn time, and you're really just providing these companies with free advertising based on stories that are misleading at best. The least you could do is charge them for it. Aren't you supposed to fact check this stuff?

Its simply the rule of cool. Even if it wasn't true, its still so damn cool that its worth being posted.

 

[Scrythe]

Does it work for paintball? That'd be nice on my Tippmann...

 

[Danpascooch]

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

Microsoft:
"Where we come from there is no terror. Only boredom"

 

[RealLifev2.0.09]

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

They even have this in their iTunes+Quicktime Terms of Service:

You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles, or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

As for the OT: While the BulletFlight app is undoubtedly awesome/confusing at the same time, I find myself more astounded by the attachment on that M110. That's.. Just... Good god, man, someone actually made an RIS attachment for it. iPods officially have attachments for everything, from your car to your goddamn rifle.

Yeah because if United States law does not deter you surely the iTunes TOS will. :O

OT: I always figured its the bad guys that use commercial devices. (like a nokia cell phone to set off a bomb) but that's probably just my overly saturated Hollywood mind thinking.

 

[sln333]

It makes me feel a little less faithful in the military if they have to use an iPhone app to help them operate.

 

[duchaked]

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

I dunno if it's for real, but one of the "Join The Army" adverts over here features a guy flying a UAV. WITH AN XBOX 360 CONTROLLER

I'm fairly sure they actually do use 360 controllers to fly the UAVs.

that...is so cool

seriously

 

[TOGSolid]

PS Triple

Anyway, to be more on topic, that's both really neat, and kinda dumb all at the same time. That's awesome that our soldiers have easy access to tools like that, but I have to echo the sentiments about our soldiers having to own iphones in order to have access to that sort of technology. Especially considering that I highly doubt the iphone was built to handle the rigours of combat in a shithole like the middle east. All that dust and sand can't be good for them.

 

[DeSpiritusBellum]

I wish you journalists/writers weren't so easy everytime someone felt like pulling a fast one for some free publicity.

The last one I read was that the NSA was using a cluster of PS3s to crack codes or cipher through some bandwidth or whatever, which is just as obviously bullshit. Sony for one has been pulling that stunt for the longest time now, and it's sad that the military and defence establishments don't have more sense than to whore themselves out like that.

There's a reason why snipers prefer bolt-action rifles - And that is because they're precise and RELIABLE due to their simplicity. Snipers are trained to never take any chance on anything within their control. You give a 3 year old an iPhone and it's gonna be broken within 2 hours tops, which means you basically don't want to take it into a warzone in any way, shape or form, since it is very much fallible. It's a great phone, but you don't want your effectiveness/life depending on it.

Add to that the fact that you already have all sorts of purpose-built trajectory calculators widely available, as well as the fact that most experienced snipers just do the maths in their heads, and make sure their rifles are zeroed before ever firing a shot in anger (It's only in computer games that you ever go outside the zero) and you have yourself one bullshit story.

Fair enough, it's funny if you don't know any better, and I should shrug it off instead of grumping about it, but you just take the bait every damn time, and you're really just providing these companies with free advertising based on stories that are misleading at best. The least you could do is charge them for it. Aren't you supposed to fact check this stuff?

1 year from now most people who read this story will forget about it. Why? Because it's irrelevent. I will not say whether or not this has actually been used, or even if it's practical (although, I'm sure an argument could be made in either case). What I will say is that this is a bit of comedy; a way in which to feel that our meaningless consumerism is good for something other than our fat and greedy hands. It shifts our gaze from our own pathetic apps (seriously? Who the fuck needs farmville on a phone? it's a damn phone!), and gives us a commradery with people who are using something we have for a better purpose. Lighten up and don't read so much into it. It's pretty fucking awesome that they COULD, even if they wouldn't. And frankly, that's what I hear the article saying - not so much that it's being used but more that the potential for its usage is great.

I don't disagree with any of you guys saying "Lighten up!" or "It's neat!", I thought of it myself as I was writing it, and it is cool, and it is neat and quirky when you look at it on it's own, and I am being a grumpy dude.

It's just that, as a major warhead, I take offence that something so blatantly bogus is so easy to get passed around the news circuit, because it isn't about doing cool stuff for the people behind it, or making people laugh and gadgetheads go "Ooo" - It's about snagging some free advertising and moving some product.

I think the guys behind this app are taking a bit of a cheap shot (I pun'd!) with or without Apples involvement, and quite possibly exploiting the fact that people don't know anything about war, except what they see in games and movies.

Sadly though, people really don't, and perhaps the saddest part is that the military doesn't seem to mind very much, because it makes war seem quirky and exciting, especially to a videogaming audience. It might be the greatest occupation in life for people who are truly cut out for it, but it definitely isn't a smooth ride for anyone. It's that exploitive trend that I find pretty uncomfortable, and I wish that journalists would at least be a bit more critical of it than their readers.

Apart from that, it definitely rocks. We should have way more tactical sims/games and gadgets if you ask me.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Isn't an iPhone kinda screwed in the desert sand? I can't recall it being designed for that.

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

I dunno if it's for real, but one of the "Join The Army" adverts over here features a guy flying a UAV. WITH AN XBOX 360 CONTROLLER

I'm fairly sure they actually do use 360 controllers to fly the UAVs.

They're not the only one's. I've seen unmanned ground vehicles being controlled by PS3 controllers.

Makes sense doesn't it? Most people, especially the army cadets of today, have at least some experience with gameconsoles. Using a controller from one of those consoles cuts down the training from weeks or so to mere minutes. You pick up and play. Well, pick up and kill.

 

[Abedeus]

This is pretty old news isn't it Funk?

Still cool though, Apple is helping in the war on terror. What do you think of THAT Microsoft? Eh?

God, let's hope that Microsoft DOESN'T get to the war zone.

Can you imagine it? You try shooting, but your sniper rifle shouts at you "SYSTEM HAS ENCOUNTERED A CRITICAL ERROR AND MUST BE SHUT DOWN". And turns blue.

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

Killing the Taliban- there's an app for that!

Eh lol hahahaha sounds like a good commercial to me

Its great to have actual and very usefull apps. Makes all this iPhone empire seem more bearable.
Now there is ofc special gadget that does the same job. And i think most of the time snipers actually have a 2nd guy (spotter) to calculate these stuff. But considering you need only the iPhone now . . . and that it is actually a phone that ur soldiers can use off-duty. Its a pretty good deal. I mean i doubt the military will start manufacturing phones n stuff right?