“Apple iPads may be commonplace in homes and offices, but the popular tablet is now a key weapon in the U.S. Air Force’s battle for efficiency,” James Rogers reports for TheStreet. “The lightweight Apple tablet has opened the door to more than $50 million in cost savings over the next 10 years, according to the military.”
“Last year the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) awarded a $9.36 million contract for up to 18,000 iPads as part of an ambitious project to replace flight manuals with state-of-the-art tablets,” Rogers reports. “Contractor Executive Technology clinched the deal to deploy the so-called Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs).”
Rogers reports, “‘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 pile [of flight manuals],’ said Major Brian Moritz, EFB program manager, in a phone interview. ‘It adds up to quite a lot of weight in paper.’ The weight savings vary by aircraft across AMC’s vast airfleet, from as much as 250 pounds in a four-person C-17, up to 490 pounds in a hulking C-5 with its 10 crewmembers.”
Read more in the full article here.
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