Battlefield Airman Tests the Future in Binoculars: 
The coordination between battlefield airmen and pilots may get a boost with a new gyro-stabilized, laser-incorporating set of binoculars, called the Stabilized Portable Optical Target Tracking Receiver. The SPOTTR, recently tested during Northern Edge 2006 by TSgt. Nathan Hoffman, a joint terminal attack controller with the 354th Operations Group at Eielson AFB, Alaska, enables a battlefield airman to see where an aircraft’s targeting laser hits the ground. “I can give quick target ‘talk-ons’ to pilots, like ‘move your laser spot 100 meters east,” said Hoffman. In the current, time-consuming process, a JTAC uses terrain features to guide a pilot using a laser-guided bomb to the target.
Three of four congressional committees with influence over defense policy have voted to change the official name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War—but final approval of the Pentagon rebrand is months away and not yet assured.