United States Air Force plan purchase of up to 18,000 iPads for flight bag replacements

In December of last year, the first commercial airline pilots began to take iPads into cockpits as a replacement to the traditional flight bag. This followed the Federal Aviation Administration’s initial approval and testing of the device. Now, a recent report from Nextgov (via TabTimes) claimed the United States Air Force’s Air Mobility Command plans to buy up to 18,000 iPads. The proof comes from a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website that claimed the AMC planned to buy “a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 18,000” iPad 2s.

While the notice did mention iPad 2 or equivalent devices, Nextgov said the Air Force Special Operations Command announced in January that it planned to purchase 2,861 iPads 2s as flight bag replacements. The devices will be used by the crews on C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster aircrafts. Although AMC plans to issue a proposal to buy the tablets at the lowest, fixed cost possible, Lt. Col. Glen Roberts noted the AMC “is looking for a tablet device, not necessarily an iPad.”