KANGAROO KILLERS….
July 14th, 2005
The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical
headaches for Australia’s armed forces. As virtual reality
simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training,
programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism
of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and, in the
case of the Northern Territory’s Operation Phoenix, herds of
kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give away a
helicopter’s position).
The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization’s
Land Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed
developers to model the local marsupials’ movements and reactions
to helicopters.
Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some
code originally used to model infantry detachment reactions
under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier
to a kangaroo, and increased the figures’ speed of movement.
Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting
American pilots, the hotshot Aussies “buzzed” the virtual
kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos
scattered, as predicted, and the visiting Americans nodded
appreciatively… then did a double-take as the kangaroos
reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger
missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers
had forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.)
The lesson? Objects are defined with certain attributes, and
any new object defined in terms of an old one inherits all the
attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned to be careful
when reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a
newfound respect for Australian wildlife.
Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward
have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.
From June 15, 1999 Defense Science and Technology Organization
Lecture Series, Melbourne, Australia, and staff reports