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The Waltham, Mass.-based company said the new Android application, called the Raytheon Android Tactical System, or RATS for short, can pick up aerial images from an unmanned aircrafts and satellites and then focus in on details such as license plates on cars or a person's facial features.

For instance, a soldier could tag an unmanned plane as a "buddy," track its progress on a map using the phone and then access streaming video from the plane for a bird's eye view of the area.

Raytheon said RATS could also let military personnel interact as "buddies" and allow them to track the locations of other members of their squad, as well as help them identify potential enemies.

"We're trying to take advantage of smartphone technology to tailor for what soldiers may need in the field," said Mark Bigham, Raytheon's vice president of business development. "Google has helped us push the limits of the phone."

Bigham added that Android was selected due to its open-source nature, which made developing applications easy. So far, U.S. Special Forces have tested the product on Android-powered Motorola and HTC devices.

Raytheon plans to add lightweight encryption so outsiders wouldn't be able to intercept the images or video or hack into the phone's buddy list. The device will also have identity recognition software so that it won't work in enemy hands. Bigham said, eventually, the phones could even double as biometric scanners to capture fingerprints.