Defense Giant Boeing Goes Digital with Super Secure Android Smartphone Plans

Aerospace and defense industry major, Boeing is all set to diverge into a completely different market sector and launch a super secure Android smartphone.

The Android device is meant for use by military, government, and high-level commercial professionals and the company is planning for a late 2012 launch of the device.

Boeing President Roger Krone has refused to provide any specifics about the device. However, he did mention that the company is on the verge of completion of the development cycle.

The device will "give them what they are used to seeing (on consumer market smartphones) and give them the functionality from the security perspective," the Register quoted Krone as saying.

"We are all living off this thing," Krone said while holding up his smartphone. "And we're not going back. In fact the next one I have is going to be thinner, smaller and have more capability."

Brian Palma, vice president of the Boeing's secure infrastructure group, on the other hand mentioned that the current market usually has secure phones in the range of $15,000 to $20,000 per piece.

However, Boeing is aiming for a cheaper price point, but this handset won't be a mass-market device. At the same time, the device will also not compete directly with BlackBerries, iPhones, and other consumer products.

The Android-based Boeing Phone will reportedly provide users with an interface they are familiar with in the consumer market, while providing them a whole other level of security.

Apart from this, Boeing also announced that the U.S. Air Force accepted control of the fourth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) military communications satellite on April.11, 2012 after the spacecraft passed several weeks of rigorous on-orbit tests.

GS-4 was launched 19 January from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. It is the first spacecraft in the program's upgraded Block II series, which includes a new radio frequency (RF) bypass that supports the transmission of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery at data rates approximately three times greater than those currently available on Block I satellites.