The US Army is rapidly adopting digital technologies designed to transform how soldiers communicate, gather intelligence and make decisions on the battlefield. But despite the advances, troops are still holding on to an old and familiar tool: the physical battlefield map.
The continued reliance on paper maps was highlighted during a recent military experimentation exercise at Fort Irwin, California, where soldiers tested dozens of emerging technologies, including drones, electronic warfare systems and the Army’s prototype Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) system.
The exercise, known as Project Convergence Capstone, involved the testing of nearly 100 technologies intended to improve battlefield awareness and accelerate military decision-making.
Among the systems demonstrated was NGC2’s digital mapping application, which provides soldiers with near-real-time information on the positions of friendly forces and weapons.
During an urban assault scenario, Capt. Mohamed Elmaola of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division used the digital mapping system on an End User Device, a Samsung smartphone loaded with NGC2 software and mounted on his chest.
Elmaola said the technology significantly improved his understanding of the battlefield.
“Now I have good situational awareness of all of my elements around the battlefield in real time,” he said.
He added that the digital system provided precise, real-time targeting information that could be critical during combat.
However, despite the advantages of the new technology, Elmaola continued to carry and update a physical map throughout the exercise.
He said the paper map remained essential because it could serve as a reliable fallback when digital systems were disrupted.
“My analog copy is what I fight and live off because this gives me the totality of the story of what the enemy is doing, especially in a degraded environment,” Elmaola said.
The concern was not theoretical. During the exercise, electronic warfare and jamming affected the electromagnetic spectrum, creating situations in which soldiers could lose connectivity to their digital systems.
While some NGC2 capabilities continued operating in limited conditions, other troops experienced connectivity failures that prevented them from accessing digital information.
For soldiers operating in such environments, a paper map provides a simple but dependable backup.
“This should never go away,” Elmaola said while referring to his physical map.
Other soldiers also said they preferred keeping paper maps because they were familiar with them from years of military training. Some used the digital maps alongside their physical copies, comparing information from both systems and updating their paper maps when necessary.
Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ellis said soldiers’ willingness to rely on digital technology could depend partly on individual preferences and comfort levels.
“I find that the way we all interact with technology is a little bit different, and we all have different preferences,” Ellis said.
The exercise highlighted a broader challenge facing the US Army: introducing advanced technology while ensuring soldiers can continue operating when that technology fails.
Connectivity and redundancy were major themes throughout the exercise as troops tested digital systems under electronic warfare conditions.
Army officials said the feedback gathered from soldiers would play an important role in determining which technologies should be developed and adopted for future operations.
Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner, head of the Army Joint Modernization Command, said assessing whether the experimental systems achieved their intended objectives was one of the most important purposes of the exercise.
“It is probably the most critical thing that we're doing here, is taking observations and answering questions that we came in here to answer,” Hibner said.
The Army’s digital transformation is therefore unlikely to mean the immediate disappearance of traditional tools. Instead, the experience at Fort Irwin suggests that future battlefields may combine cutting-edge digital systems with simple analog backups — ensuring soldiers can continue fighting even when the network goes down.
Source: Business Insider
