Smartphones are everywhere these days so the fact that Lockheed Martin wants to make them ubiquitous on the battlefront trough a secure communications system called MONAX doesn't come as a surprise to anybody.

Built especially to offer a secure and highly portable network infrastructure, the MONAX system connects any commercial off-the-shelf smartphone to a ground or airborne 3G base station, through a secure RF link, so units on the ground can look up or exchange mission data by using their touchscreen phones.

Security is also enhanced by the exportable encryption enclosed in Lockheed Martin's system.

"This affordable system will reduce time spent searching for information, improve battlefield communications and situational awareness, and increase mission effectiveness through more informed decision making," said Gerry Fasano, President of Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions-Defense.

Apart from the MONAX secure technology, Lockheed Martin also offers a set of applications, available trough their own app store, that can further enhance handset's capabilities.

Lockheed Martin's announcement comes after the iPhone has entered the US military services last year so the army is interested in this type of devices, but it still remains to be seen how useful the MONAX technology will prove to the military, and how will this compete with existing solutions.

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