US Air Force Eyeing 18K iPads

fatrat said:
Yeah, the first company to offer college students discounts on comuters doesn't do discounts....yeah, right.
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But not the ipads. Even though the ipads were a loner they expected the kids to buy iPad Smart Covers or they wouldn't be able to take them home to use. What are the kids to do with the covers when their turned in end of the semester. Apple wants their foot in the schools and with the money rolling in, no covers, give me a break. They want to hook the kiddies on their toys before they leave high school but give the first example of what "Corporate Greed" is all about. Way to go apple, good example for the kids.
 
its more for the transport guys
taking 10lbs of maps out of the cockpit means 10lbs more some else in back its not a bad idea
 
Keiichi said:
These tablets are gonna replace the paper charts/manuals/maps/whatever. It's not actually gonna be used for IFR.
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Gungiddy said:
Hopefully this will trickle down to the maintenance guys too. I remember having to wheel around a separate box just for all the technical manuals and a tool box as well when going out to do some work.
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The Air Force already has many of its Aircraft Technical Orders (aka T.O.'s) in digital form these days. Crew Chiefs actually check out Panasonic Toughbook's from the tool crib which are pre-loaded with the latest and most up to date technical info for aircraft maintenance. The program that keeps all these Toughbooks updated is called ETIMS (Enhanced Technical Order Management System). It replaced WebATOMS which replaced Desktop ATOMS. The program came on line a few years ago and it's slowly replacing the printed aircraft technnical orders and checklists used on the flightline. I worked on this program for the DoD.

U.M.
 
Hazakins said:
Is this why they closed the air force base in Utah. So they could buy some overpriced Ipads. Apple should just donate them!
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So now Apple has taken out an entire Air Force Base in Utah.

:rolleyes:
 
farscapesg1 said:
It's the US Military... so they will sign a contract to pay 150% - 300% instead. Can't go cheap when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars...
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It depends on if they have to be Mil-Spec'd or not. If they do, the sky is the limit.

If OOTB then there is no reason to pay more than retail, and if they did and there were no additional services to account for it, some one would probably end up in Jail.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Actually companies have to sell products the government for the cheapest price available, but you wouldn't know that.

And seriously why would you buy Ipads. Most overpriced piece of junk. You could also get a really cheap tablet made just for this job, no need to pay $500+ for something useless.
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Overpriced, yet cheaper than most Android based pads. Funny that.
 
Uncle Meat said:
The Air Force already has many of its Aircraft Technical Orders (aka T.O.'s) in digital form these days. Crew Chiefs actually check out Panasonic Toughbook's from the tool crib which are pre-loaded with the latest and most up to date technical info for aircraft maintenance. The program that keeps all these Toughbooks updated is called ETIMS (Enhanced Technical Order Management System). It replaced WebATOMS which replaced Desktop ATOMS. The program came on line a few years ago and it's slowly replacing the printed aircraft technnical orders and checklists used on the flightline. I worked on this program for the DoD.

U.M.
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This.

Two things. I hate ETIMS. It's slow. It shouldn't take a hundred clicks just to view a PDF doc of the TO I want to pull up.

And last, I hate looking at schematics on a computer, in PDF format. It just doesn't flow right. Now if they can make the schematics work in Visio, but in tablet form. I might be able to use it. Until then I'll take my paper TOs over a computer anyday.

I do find it easier to read a paper TO instead of a computer. And you can read paper in the sun, not having to tilt a screen so the sun won't shine on it, or put something over the screen and your head to read the damn thing.
 
rainman said:
No, it won't. It is a COTS product.

That's "common off the shelf" for those of you who are not in the know.
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Commercial Off the Shelf, for the rest of you who are not in the know :p
 
I can see it now....Guy flying a Jet using his iPad, flies into the side of a mountain.
 
Methadras said:
A milspec ipad will be no different and it will most likely be redesigned to milspec standards as well.
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Exactly - Look up the term 'hardened' when it come to electronics and you'll find out why milspec items cost so much more. Electronic devices have to be protected from interference (and interfering with) other systems, and it does not come cheap. This is often why the technology in milspec/aerospace systems is several generations old. It's 'proven' and easier to convert than the latest generation hardware.
 
Depending on the military program...the value of saving a pound can be between $100k and $2million as a bonus to the company to develop the effort. It does'nt matter if the final solutoin costs more because the lighter the aircraft is the longer it can effectively stay in the air (either carry more fuel or be more fuel efficient).

If you can get rid of 50lbs worth of books with a 5 lb tablet..they will light that up like a christmas tree if the mission objects are still met. Weight is everything to the airforce..EVERYTHING.
 
Indeed,

I remember all the manuals the B-1b had,

The b-2 was even a worse offender. They sure would be happy as flyes are a horses ass if they could have all those TO electronically on board.

Which brings up, I know most of the AF fleet was hardned, even though the majority of the fleet does not do alert status anymore. Does that mean if the plane in question does infact still require hardening the tablet will have to be hardned also?
 
Sure. That is the reasoning the military gives for this purchase, but they really want it for Angry birds. :D
 
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