Continuation of the article about the "Combat" combat control system.
The first part is located HERE.
As it was said in the first part of the article - in the second part I cite the text of the article in the original.
“How Ukrainian Programmer Created Battle Management Software”.
Evgeny Maksimenko traded a comfortable office of an IT company with free snacks, comfortable chairs and entertainment for a modest two rooms on the outskirts of the capital.
They are nothing but cheap furniture, a fan, and a poster on the wall.
Maksimenko took a long-term vacation at his own expense, gave up benefits and works 12-14 hours a day.
For what? For the past year and a half, he and six enthusiasts he found on Facebook have been developing real-time combat control software - Combat vision.
In peacetime, a 31-year-old specialist in enterprise automation systems at a large Ukrainian IT company loved to play airsoft.
He even founded a couple of patriotic education clubs with partners, for example, Airsoft Real Military Simulation.
It was there that he first tried out battle management software.
“We were playing a toy war and decided to do something similar to American systems. It is much easier to coordinate a team when you see what each of the players is doing,”explains Maksimenko.
The author demonstrates how the system works.
Perhaps during the iForum in Kiev.
Note the tablet tactical chest pouch.
When the events in Volnovakha happened, he thought that since our military had nothing - no form, no means of communication, no means of exchange of information - the simplest version of a system for coordinating actions would suit them.
“Our software allows you to avoid friendly fire - this is when friendly people shoot at their own people. And then it was 60%,”recalls Maksimenko.
Application creation
Back in 2012, he and his friends made an Android app for sharing locations, civilians like Google+.
Some additional functions have been added to the military - the ability to inflict a tactical situation, correctly calculate the distance to and from an object (taking into account the characteristics of the terrain), apply a coordinate grid, communicate and give orders.
Naturally, the system is secure.
They made a three-level protection for her - they restricted access to the device itself, encrypted the data and the channels through which they are transmitted.
“The most vulnerable point is the tablet screen with the entered password.
Even if the enemy intercepts the protected information, he will spend more time decrypting it than it will be relevant, but no one prevents the user from saving a screenshot of the map, as well as taking a photo of a paper map … , - says Evgeniy.
Refinement of the military version has been underway for a year.
Since this is a private initiative, the state does not allocate funds for it either.
Everything is done for the money of private investors.
When asked about the amount of investment, Maksimenko is slightly embarrassed, but then says that it would be enough to buy a three-room apartment in Kiev (the price per square meter in the capital as of August 18 was $ 1,500).
“We never had a goal to sell the system to the state. We wanted to speed up the process of transferring intelligence from soldiers to commanders. In those divisions for which we had enough money, the goal was achieved,”explains the IT specialist.
With the money of volunteers from the David Arakhamia * People's Project, the guys bought laptops, tablets and peripherals.
* Activist of the Nikolaev Maidan and a member of the "People's Militia".
Lost in translation
The biggest problem that has not yet been resolved is the lack of a normal communication system with data transmission.
Previously, the military used to talk on almost the same walkie-talkies as the guards in supermarkets.
Now the situation is a little better, but far from ideal.
To be 100% confident in some information, you need to see it personally.
Therefore, it is necessary to ensure adequate transmission of not only voice, but also photo / video.
This is possible with the Combat vision system.
Generals use fixed channels for communication, and ordinary soldiers do not get such systems.
“We have equipped several regiments at the level of unit commanders, delivered about 70 devices and this is just the beginning,” says Evgeny.
In order to move to a lower level, on the one hand, there is not enough money, and on the other hand, in battle, the tablets will only interfere with the soldiers.
The devices are purchased directly in China - it is difficult to afford branded protected gadgets, they are expensive and hold little charge.
Therefore, developers have to constantly communicate with representatives of manufacturers, reporting problems with software.
But this takes a huge amount of time, so Maksimenko is looking for access to more contact manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom, who can provide a direct dialogue with engineers.
There are two more reasons for the insufficient widespread distribution of the system: the complexity of the initial configuration and the low level of user training.
To use it, you need to have at least a basic knowledge of geography and military affairs, while many soldiers cannot even determine where the north is.
It also needs to be configured and assigned user rights.
If you make the system massive, then there will not be enough resources to train all the soldiers.
“Repeatedly we tried to teach the guys, but then it turned out that some of them were demobilized, someone was transferred to another unit and the like. We had to go again and teach new people,”explains the developer.
And the regular military is not very versed in gadgets and software.
Despite the simple interface of the system, it works well only where there is a professional who can serve the complex as a whole.
However, Maksimenko is optimistic - lately more and more people understand the need for automation.
Even a year ago, it was easy for him to convey his idea to the top army leadership - after the Maidan, many acquaintances appeared in the highest echelons of power who helped organize meetings with the right people.
The system can still be refined and refined.
“We did only 5% of what we could have done,” Maksimenko complains.
Ideally, integrate it into smart glasses and connect with other systems.
But this is a distant future.
After the system is finalized for the military, the developers hope that the military leadership, based on world experience, will assess the effectiveness of the use of automation systems and will be interested in providing their units on their own.
Then Evgeny Maksimenko will be able to return to a comfortable office and continue working in the largest corporation in Ukraine.
But does she want to?
End of article
Additional data that I have collected
For our regular client from MI6, the version of ComBat is 0.0.7.
Py. Sy.: We are working on the MK-61 version for Stirlitz.
Latest updates:
- The interface has been redesigned for Android 4.4.
- A new system for managing maps by layers with automatic slicing from online services.
- Cards of unlimited size
- New system of file-by-file download of maps from the server (with further support for online maps OSM, General Staff and others)
- New optimized data transfer protocol capable of operating over low-speed digital radio channels.
- Advanced player of history of events and messages.
- New improved chat and quick command system.
- New system of combat statuses for users and groups.
- Ability to divide the rights to view labels and layers by groups and users.
- General Staff grid.
- Support for the cartographic coordinate system SK-42.
- Blocking an account at the request of the user.
- Automatic creation of marks using rangefinders.
- Added a mode for rotating the map in the direction of view.
- The compass works correctly in any position of the device (not only horizontally).
- Fixed error when calculating coordinates on large maps.
In the next update, users of the ComBat system will expect:
- System for applying intelligence on video from the UAV.
- Support for online maps on the mobile client.
- Voice over chat.
- Improved usability of all menus.
- System for managing icons on the server.
- Monitoring of the health parameters of each fighter.
- Automatic report of injury in case of deviation from the norm.
- Fixation of the place of death, in case the device is removed from the body.
- Automatic blocking of the user after death to prevent unauthorized access.
Such a system was created in Kiev and operates in the ATO zone.
I did not decide to engage in hidden campaigning in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as some would think.
In my homeland, too, not everything is sweet, and the army does not even have enough laces.
And I do not urge you to catch that Ukrainian programmer or attack the system server, as others decide.
Who needs it - already in the know and countermeasures, I am sure, have been taken.
I just gave an example of organizing people's aid to the army.
And I will end with a quote from the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Olga Batalina: "The main strength of any country is its people."
Primary sources:
