It’s not the earth-grinding Paladin howitzers and Abrams tanks that give the Army’s 4th Infantry Division its moniker — the “digitized division.” The heavy hardware is guided by a sophisticated computer network that, in its first use in battle, tracked the division’s 1st Brigade during a skirmish Wednesday for the Taji air base north of Baghdad. THE SYSTEM is known as Force 21 Battle Command Brigade and Below, or FBCB2, and works as a battlefield Internet that keeps track of fast-moving combat vehicles. It gives a videogame-like view of friendly and enemy forces on the battlefield that “provides a level of situational awareness that is second to none,” said 1st Brigade commander Col. Don Campbell. Ensconced in a command post at the rear, Campbell and his staff used the battlefield networking system Wednesday to direct his troops — represented by blue icons — toward the positions of “red” Iraqi paramilitaries identified by spotters in helicopters. Full Story
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