MINNEAPOLIS (August 13, 2015) — A contract for Ground Guidance software expands the patented route planning and terrain analysis software for the U.S. Army by integrating it into the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) platform. The software suite from Primordial, which is owned by Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII), provides on and off-road routing for mounted and dismounted soldiers, accounting for terrain, weather, enemy activity and equipment load. The contract also includes a computer-based training (CBT) package.
Military small unit leaders face complex tradeoffs when selecting equipment and routes. Ground Guidance, when integrated into platforms like ATAK, plans efficient and safe routes to and from mission objectives and allows soldiers to account for other variables that impact speed and time.
“We continue to expand the integration of Ground Guidance onto our mission planning platforms because it accelerates mission planning, enables dynamic and rapid re-planning, facilitates thorough course of action (COA) analysis, and is critical for remote mission planning,” said LTC Robert Klarenbach, U.S. Army. “Bottom line, it increases the combat effectiveness of our soldiers.”
Also, with each platform and integration comes user evaluation and testing to improve the software and verify the accuracy of route metrics such as distance, duration, energy expenditure, calories burned and exhaustion.
“Ground Guidance dramatically accelerates mission planning, facilitates on-the-fly re-planning, and improves route quality by automatically generating fast and concealed routes through on- and off-road terrain,” said Randy Milbert, Director of Software, Polaris. “As a result, small combat teams are more autonomous, nimble and adaptable in quickly changing battlefield conditions.”
Ground Guidance has been integrated into FalconView, TerraExplorer, Nett Warrior, X-Plan, Ringtail, Tactical Ground Reporting (TIGR) and Google Earth. Primordial has also secured Ground Guidance contracts with major defense contractors including General Dynamics, Rockwell Collins, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.
www.polaris.com/en-us/military
