A street patrol is pinned down by sniper fire in Afghanistan. The night is pitch black and the sniper’s position unknown. Any false move could be fatal.

The patrol leader reaches into his bullet-proof vest and pulls out a device that could be one of those personal organisers beloved of advertising executives. He taps the screen and pulls up a GPS image showing both the sniper’s position and the safest route to get to him. A few more taps and each member of the patrol has been briefed on what to do next. They don night-vision goggles and move forward. No radio has been used and nobody has spoken a word.

If this sounds like a scene from 24, think again. All this technology is either already in use or soon will be. The defence industry has entered the age of C4I (command, control, communications, computing and intelligence) and its most potent weapon is information. Surveillance data from satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors mounted on armoured trucks is being routed through a central command and delivered to the front line.

Defence and security company EADS expects to have its Warrior21 system in action within two years. Designed for foot soldiers, the system comprises a series of modules that can be tailored to different combat situations. Protective headgear incorporates a visual display, earpiece, microphone, night vision and “augmented reality” capabilities. Sensors track the soldier’s position and monitor his health and the level of his ammunition.

Rick Evans, who spent 31 years in the British Army before joining EADS as its UK director for mission systems and solutions, explains how the system works.

“In the past the only way to communicate in combat has been by radio or by shouting at each other, both of which compromise your security and limit you to voice communication,” he says. “With this system you can send text, GPS data, video images and tracking data that shows the position of your colleagues.”

One of the biggest technological challenges is making the devices small and robust enough to survive military use.

“What matters to the soldier is that he can carry all this kit along with his ammunition and his water,” Evans says.

Advances in battery technology, data compression and encryption are also important. “You don’t want to be carrying around loads of different batteries and there’s no broad-band on the battlefield so a lot of the technology is about compressing data.”

For the past few years all three Armed Forces have been updating their communications and surveillance capabilities through the Bowman programme. Delivered by General Dynamics UK, it aims to provide secure radio, telephone, intercom and tactical internet services.

It is in use in both Iraq and Afghanistan and has been integrated into 18,000 vehicles, helicopters, naval vessels, landing craft and buildings.

However, one area of defence has proved resistant to the C4I age – the submarine. John Bagshaw, of BAE Systems’ Armed Technology Centre, says that the difficulties of transmitting data through several inches of solid steel have led to the creation of a low-tech solution: “They drill big holes in the hull.”

Bagshaw has come up with a different answer. His Through Hull Data Link uses wireless technology at extremely high rates of data transfer to penetrate the sub.

“It’s the technological equivalent of hammering very fast on the hull,” he says.

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