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Polish Troops in Afghanistan Misled by GPS Snafus

by Warren Riddle on November 8, 2010 at 05:30 PM

polish soldiers in afghanistan
Consumers unceasingly fall prey to faulty GPS units, but military organizations -- with access to cutting-edge communication systems and navigation technology -- might seem invulnerable to such aimless mistakes. [Ed. Note: Not if they use Google Maps, apparently.] Several units of Poland's 2,600-troop force in Afghanistan recently disproved that notion, though, when their GPS devices reportedly induced them "to simply lose their way."

According to the Telegraph, the GPS units displayed erroneous location data, operated incredibly slowly and offered only two hours of battery life. The devices allegedly (and, obviously, incorrectly) placed the Polish troops in incredibly distant and arbitrary lands, including an assortment of African nations. Poland's military officials apparently attributed the mistakes to defective antennas, but Polish prosecutors -- who are currently looking into corruption in the military's procurement practices -- are inquiring why they would buy GPS units that had underwhelmed them during field tests. Again, it was because of "corruption" -- so don't even go there.

Tags: AfghanistanWar, GPS, GpsMishaps, Poland, PolishArmy, top

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