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Tux Enlisted for U.S. Defense Program

Posted by samzenpus on from the free-as-in-bombs dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Linux is a key part of the Army's massive $200B FCS (Future Computing System) initiative, it seems. RTOS vendor LynuxWorks was chosen to provide the OS for 18 weapons platforms under development, because its LynxOS-178 real-time OS can run Linux binaries -- including the "common operating environment" that Boeing is developing for FCS."

12 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. ARPA-NET by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're shooting for the Funny mod, but think about it.

    - The precursor to the web we're both using right now was pentagon (ARPA) funded.

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    1. Re:ARPA-NET by Atrax · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Arpanet never directly killed anyone, that I know of. The post talks of 'weapons systems', i.e. people being fucking killed.

      We ain't logging in to the World Wide Howitzer

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    2. Re:ARPA-NET by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >> Arpanet never directly killed anyone, that I know of. The post talks of 'weapons systems', i.e. people being fucking killed.

      GPP: >> Nothing says "feel-good bluegrass tech movement" like becoming part of the military industrial complex.

      ARPA-NET and the earliest incarnations of the internet were certainly a "feel-good" tech movement, yet they were funded with military bucks. My point is not that the "internet is a weapon" (how the hell did you get that?). My point is that it shouldn't be surprising when a progressive, open technology like Linux is used by the military. They have some smart folks working for them. Sometimes good things come of it.

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    3. Re:ARPA-NET by damiam · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Guns don't kill people, either, bullets do. Right? No, the gun contributes to the death by shooting the bullet. Likewise, all military projects, whether they are weapons systems or communications systems, are intended to further military goals, which basically involve killing people. What level the involvement is at is irrelevent, if you want to be idealistic and take a complete no-war stance.

      Or, you could be sane, and realize that the military is going to kill people no matter what, and it might as well use safe, reliable, accurate, well-built systems to ensure that it kills the right people and no more people than necessary. In that sense, Linux is a good thing.

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      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    4. Re:ARPA-NET by jonadab · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > to further military goals, which basically involve killing people.

      You've greatly misunderstood the military. Killing people is seldom if ever a military goal. Almost always the goal is to force people to accept certain terms. Killing people is often employed as a way of furthering that goal, but it is not itself the goal.

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      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
    5. Re:ARPA-NET by kbielefe · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Okay, so I'm somewhat biased because I work for a military contractor, but that also gives me an insider's perspective.

      The reasoning behind recent research hasn't been to kill the enemy more efficiently, but has been how to win necessary wars with the least friendly and enemy casualties possible. Ideologies have changed a lot since WWII. We no longer go to war against a country. We go to war against dictators and pockets of terrorists while trying to defend everyone else in the country. It requires a different mindset and different technology. We already have effective weapons of mass destruction, but mass destruction is not how we want to win anymore.

      Name any modern shooter video game and I will bet it has some kind of cue to differentiate between friendlies and known enemies, like a reticle that turns green or red. Now imagine the same sort of thing in the hands of our real life armed forces, and you will get some idea of just one of the (albeit lofty) goals of projects like FCS.

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  2. GNU by MSG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since Linux isn't actually involved in this project in any way, shouldn't the summary state that GNU is a key part of the FCS initiative?

    Tux is actually sitting this one out.

  3. All it would take is just one Linux Virus / Trojan by INetUser · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While we all know that Windows is easily subjugated by trojans and viruses, and with the penetration of windows system on the market and connected to the Internet, it's a real problem. Some attribute this to the Windows mono-culture.

    Isn't this just another mono-culture waiting to be exploited? Consider the risk. One trojan or virus with a trojan let lose in the military network, and there is no telling what it would / could do. All of a sudden, zillions of fake targets are buzzing around the UCAV's radar as it starts shooting mindlessly at them.

    Granted, this assumes, and it's probably a big assumption, that one could connect to the military network in a clandestine nature and remain hidden. But is the risk worth the mono-culture savings?

  4. Re:is linux guilty of murder now? by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No more so than cars, truck, aluminum, steel, or coffee is. All of which is used by the military around the world, for good or evil.

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  5. Re:the new gpl by gatkinso · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Freedom can be a real bitch when *your* agenda is trodden upon.

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  6. There's quite a bit of Linux in USG by wiredog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's just not well publicized. Often because the department using it doesn't want any publicity. But Linux was highly visible at FOSE lats week.

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  7. Re:Peace, Love, Linux by Hasai · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fact of life: There are precious few tools that cannot be utilized as a weapon.

    Welcome to the world.

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    Regards;

    Hasai