Army Language Translation Capabilities Enable Soldier Readiness

Photo By John Higgins | The Machine Foreign Language Translate System (MFLTS) is a Solider mounted system that presently works with three different languages, Iraqi Arabic, Dari and Pashtun, with more planned for the future. (Photo Illustration by Christine Ryan)  

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD, UNITED STATES

06.02.2017

Story by John Higgins 

Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors

By Michael Doney, Product Director for MFLTS

There is a kind of wall, impenetrable by bullets, bombs, drills, or tidal waves. What is it?

A language barrier.

The Army's Machine Foreign Language Translation System (MFLTS) punches through that barrier by providing language translation capability to individual Soldiers.

An Army Linguist, military operational specialty (MOS) 35P, trains continuously from six to 16 months, in order to achieve the required level of proficiency for a given language. Skilled Linguists, native speakers who serve as interpreters for the Army with MOS 09L and even language translation contractors are always in short supply, and are typically over-tasked once they are deployed.

Enter MFLTS, a software application that provides a language translation capability to individual Soldiers. Today's Army is increasingly engaging globally. U.S. Forces are regularly conducting expeditionary missions around the world. As such, our Soldiers, more than ever, must be able to communicate effectively with native, non-English speaking populations. For example, whether a Soldier is conducting base security or working among native populations to gather information via tactical questioning, he or she must be able to communicate with these populations in order to be effective and complete the mission.

Fielded as a SW application on the Nett Warrior (NW) End User Device, and on new versions of the Distributed Common Ground System -- Army (DCGS-A), MFLTS fills a critical capability gap for the Army.

There are currently two MFLTS applications. One provides two-way, real-time speech-to-speech translation, while the other provides text-to-text translation of electronic documents, web pages, and social media. Both versions utilize state-of-the-art machine language translation technology and allow users to select from a number of language "packs," depending on the languages spoken in their Area of Operations or other specific user requirements.

With the mission in mind, the MFLTS program office is also developing a web-based portal that will enable users to download and install the MFLTS application; update the application; and download language packs, as needed by the user. In the future, a user will be able to customize his or her MFLTS application by accessing more than 65 individual language packs.

Although MFLTS takes a page from the giants of information technology in using open systems architecture and advanced machine learning technologies, it was developed to meet some very unique Army requirements. Soldiers typically operate in environments where connectivity to networks and remote servers is not guaranteed, so MFLTS must be hosted locally on the users' smartphones and computers. The Army also uses military-unique language content that is not "understood" by commercial language translation products, and must be developed and integrated into the MFLTS in order to support full spectrum military operations.

"Today's Army routinely supports Joint Interagency, Intergovernmental, Multinational (JIIM) missions where the multinational partners do not speak/write English," said Tracy Blocker, the MFLTS Representative to Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). "MFLTS supports the Army's number one priority - Readiness - by providing an automated language translation capability that can be used by deployed Soldiers who have a need to communicate with local foreign language speakers when a human linguist is not available."

Deployed Soldiers will also use MFLTS to enhance their Situational Awareness and Understanding via the translation of foreign language documents and social media, such as websites and blog pages. The MFLTS program will support the Future Army by continuously developing new language packs and making them available for download by users via the MFLTS Language Portal. This new, deployable and adaptable language translation capability directly enables the Army to 'Win in a Complex World' by effectively breaking through the language barriers that the expeditionary Army of today and tomorrow will encounter.

MFLTS has been in service since January 2016, when the initial fielding of MFLTS on NW End User Devices (EUDs) used by the 1st Brigade 82nd Airborne Division was completed. The system is also currently being used in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) in Iraq.

• Date Taken: 06.02.2017
• Date Posted: 06.05.2017 07:50
• Story ID: 236349
• Location: ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD, US
• Hometown: ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD, US
• Hometown: FORT BELVOIR, VA, US
• Hometown: FORT HUACHUCA, AZ, US