apple US Air Force expects to save $50M with use of 18K Apple iPads

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

US Air Force expects to save $50M with use of 18K Apple iPads

The purchase of 18,000 iPads for use as electronic flight bags has set the stage for the U.S. Air Force to save more than $50 million over the next 10 years.

Using lightweight iPads instead of heavy paper flight manuals will amount to $750,000 annual savings on fuel alone, a spokesman for the Air Force's Air Mobility Command said in an interview with James Rogers of The Street. And the AMC will no longer have to print those flight manuals either, which will save a whopping $5 million per year.

Major Brian Moritz, manager of the AMC's electronic flight bag program, said the Air Force expects Apple's iPad to help save $5.7 million per year, which would result in savings "well over $50 million" over the next 10 years.

"We're saving about 90 pounds of paper per aircraft and limiting the need for each crew member to carry a 30 to 40 pound paper file," Moritz said. "It adds up to quite a lot of weight in paper."

Rogers was embedded recently with the U.S. Air Force and got to see Apple's iPad in action. He revealed that the switch from paper manuals to the iPad could cut up to 490 pounds in weight from a C-5 aircraft.

The Air Force spent $9.36 million a year ago on 18,000 iPad units for use in the military arm's cargo aircraft. The 32-gigabyte Wi-Fi-only version of Apple's touchscreen tablet was purchased with bulk discount from Apple, at a price of around $520 per unit.

About 16,000 third-generation iPad with Retina display units are now in use by AMC crew, according to Rogers. The remaining 2,000 units are said to have been deployed across other Air Force units.

The U.S. military joins American Airlines, which last year became the first commercial airliner to receive Federal Aviation Administration approval to use Apple's iPad as an electronic flight bag. That switch is also expected to save American millions of dollars, and could even help prevent back injuries among its pilots.

Source: Apple Insider

[TheLegendOfMart]

Until they inevitably get broken, paper is cheap to replace.

[neufuse Veteran]

so the military got a whole $70 discount per iPad?

wouldn't it be cheaper to use android tablets? in the end they all can function as eBook readers... and have custom software if wanted

[theyarecomingforyou]

You can't fault the logic.

[n_K]

Haha, thank god I live somewhere where my taxes wouldn't be wasted like this.

Good I'm glad they're modernising to tablets but picking the most expensive, least secure, least customisation, etc. seems like either someone didn't know what they were talking about, or a company has person able to sell poo off as gold, or there's some dodgy business going on.

Either way, it'll be funny to come back in 5 years and see how this pans out.

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

They should have gotten Microsoft Surface Pros that have can run desktop programs as well as metro programs!

[offroadaaron]

Haha, thank god I live somewhere where my taxes wouldn't be wasted like this.

Good I'm glad they're modernising to tablets but picking the most expensive, least secure, least customisation, etc. seems like either someone didn't know what they were talking about, or a company has person able to sell poo off as gold, or there's some dodgy business going on.

Either way, it'll be funny to come back in 5 years and see how this pans out.

^^ This kid! LOL last time I checked the iPad was the most secure tablets and everyone else is playing catchup!

I didn't read further than that because it made the rest of what you said irrelevant!

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It's actually a great idea and being from an IT background I very much approve of this! It saves on paper! And spendings!

[BajiRav]

Wouldn't e-ink based reader server them better? :/

[Buttus]

$520 per unit?!?! for just flight manuals? they could have worked out a deal with any other tab manufacturer for a lot less i think....

and 490lbs of paper? that's 5lbs per 500 sheets of 20lb paper, so that's 98 x 500 sheets, so 49,000 sheets of paper per plane?

that seems odd... or did i mess up the math?

[grik]

They chose ipad most importantly for the fact that doesnt glitch fail. iPad owners know that. They also did tests on the Tablets to check wich could be the best one.

Till this date there isnt a better tablet than iPad, still, iOS is a very strong piece of software, just doesnt have the customization that others (android, Windows) have but they dont need that, people want their normal tasks well done.

If the army aproves heck, i dont see any doubt specially now.

[n_K]

^^ This kid! LOL last time I checked the iPad was the most secure tablets and everyone else is playing catchup!

I didn't read further than that because it made the rest of what you said irrelevant!

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It's actually a great idea and being from an IT background I very much approve of this! It saves on paper! And spendings!

It's pretty easy to get all the data from a ipad, that's why specialist companies provide cables and software (to law enforcement) that does exactly that. Not to mention you can just jailbreak it and WHOOSH instant root access.

Please state the reputable worthy source where the citation for most secure tablets comes from.

[greenwizard88]

It's pretty easy to get all the data from a ipad, that's why specialist companies provide cables and software (to law enforcement) that does exactly that. Not to mention you can just jailbreak it and WHOOSH instant root access.

Please state the reputable worthy source where the citation for most secure tablets comes from.

The U.S. government isn't going to jailbreak their iPads and risk not having support for them.

[BobSlob]

1) Flight Pubs aren't classified... google approach plates and enroute charts, you can find them everywhere. Military ones contain a few extra approaches than the civilian ones, thats about it.

2) Theres LOTS of plates and pubs for the world, think big transport aircraft flying multiple countries. All those enroute pubs are required.

3) 49000 sheets, ehh maybe... but you now have all the maps, plates and pubs for the entire world in a small device. Bonus.

4) These pubs are constantly updated, to the tune of each one every 56 days

5) See profile picture if you don't believe me

[neufuse Veteran]

^^ This kid! LOL last time I checked the iPad was the most secure tablets and everyone else is playing catchup!

I didn't read further than that because it made the rest of what you said irrelevant!

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It's actually a great idea and being from an IT background I very much approve of this! It saves on paper! And spendings!

I'd probably put the iPad / iPhone at the middle to near the bottom of the pile in terms of security too many ways to break into it, too many stupid flaws in basic code (image system, security locking, etc) not that android is much better in some ways either

[Growled Member]

wouldn't it be cheaper to use android tablets? in the end they all can function as eBook readers... and have custom software if wanted

You'd think but this IS the military we are talking about. They are none too bright.

[n_K]

The U.S. government isn't going to jailbreak their iPads and risk not having support for them.

Yeah, you're right the US government won't do that, someone with a bunch of nicked ipads that wants the data off them however will do it and get to that so called 'safe' data.

[grik]

Flight companys are handling iPads to the pilots, so its not just a trend is a fact that they help making small and important decision in a second. The Flight manuals are in the iPad if any doubt they can easily search in a second, way better than turning pages.