U.S. Navy Using Linux?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Attack of the drones: US Navy picks Linux for its unmanned VTOL aircraft control system

 

 

By Jason Hidalgo posted Jun 10th 2012 11:56AM

 

Disagreement between passionate Windows and Mac OS diehards have caused many a kerfuffle on the Interwebs. When it comes to the tactical control system of the US Navy's autonomous vertical take-off-and-landing craft, however, the military branch is putting its money on a different operating system.

 

Read the rest of the article --> http://www.engadget....ed-vtol-drones/

 

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I'm sorry, but I would prefer that GNU/Linux not be used to kill people.

[ross549]

US Navy? Linux? We've been using linux in a variety of cases for some time.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

What? Too cheap to buy a Windows Enterprise license?

[amenditman]

Did you notice the contract is for $27 million and change. Nice job for Raytheon. Free Open Source software cash in.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Somehow I doubt that any of that 27M will make it into the open source community.

[amenditman]

Maybe some of the software folks they employ will be contributing code, expertise to their favorite FOSS projects. Almost as good as cash!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ya' never know.

[abarbarian]

The USA miitary has been using GNU/Linux for a long time. You might find these links interesting.

 

http://www.spi.dod.mil/success.htm

 

Lightweight Portable Security (LPS) creates a secure end node from trusted media on almost any Intel-based computer (PC or Mac). LPS boots a thin Linux operating system from a CD or USB flash stick without mounting a local hard drive. Administrator privileges are not required; nothing is installed. The LPS family was created to address particular use cases: LPS-Public is a safer, general-purpose solution for using web-based applications.

 

I have tried out the LPS and it works well.

 

http://www.hpcmo.hpc.mil/cms2/index.php

 

The High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) was initiated in 1992 in response to congressional direction to modernize the Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories' high performance computing (HPC) capabilities. The HPCMP was assembled out of a collection of small high performance computing departments, each with a rich history of supercomputing experience that had independently evolved within the Army, Air Force, and Navy laboratories and test centers.

HPC tools solve complicated and time-consuming problems. Researchers expand their toolkit to solve modern military and security problems using HPC hardware and software. Programs can assess technical and management risks, such as performance, time, available resources, cost, and schedule. Through HPC solutions, programs gain knowledge to protect our military through new weapons systems, prepare US aircraft for overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assist long-term weather predictions to plan humanitarian and military operations throughout the world.

 

 

Below is a small portion of a list of the software they use.

 

http://www.afrl.hpc.mil/consolidated/softwareALL.php

 

 

This last link is very interesting. Thought the picture showed a sense of humour.

 

 

http://www.hpcmo.hpc.mil/aboutus/HPCMPO%20Program%20Masterbrief%20for%20Web_v3.pdf