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Hopefully I'll be able to add my .mil email address to my phone eventually. Considering its on NIPRNET already I don't see why not. Now all I need is a CAC reader that interfaces with the lightning port, and I'd be mobile for 99% of my work.

Very. Very. Soon.

http://www.thursby.com/iOS_readers.html

http://www.thursby.com/pkard_suite.html

Email app in beta, secure web already out, full biometric case with reader shortly.

With this approval my guess is that Thursby broke out the champaign this morning. They are practically ready, giving them a huge short term profit potential.
 
Every single time without fail… right before new ones are released. Same thing for iPads a few years back, and some iPhones in the news… I don't know why the government doesn't pay better attention. I know it takes a while to approve stuff, but they should be aware of Apple's schedule… especially since the NSA and Dod work hand in hand to provide wiretaps guidelines for all Apple products.
 
yes but paper is impervious to EMP attacks / lighting striking a plane

good luck with your flash storage :confused:

If you are sitting in an aircraft when you get hit by an EMP big enough to take out you iPad, then not being able to look something up because you don‘t have paper manuals is the LEAST of your worries.
 
The problem is that you never know when you might need them...emergency, divert, etc. Trust me, everything that is carried is needed whether it's a flight manual or an approach plate. On any given mission we could be re-cut in flight to be sent anywhere. Not having the proper pubs on board would hamper that capability especially in the airlift community. Not so much in the fighter world.

The Air Force has been testing iPads in the cockpit for quite some time now. Where it gets complicated is that an iPad is a very significant weakness that can be exploited by both state and non-state actors. Unfortunately, as with so many things in the DoD, what started out as a good idea has turned into a complete mess. The Air Force saw a great way to save money by having an EFB like the iPad, but didn't think it all the way through. What if it's compromised? Now you have an iPad with a camera on it in a potentially sensitive environment.

The AF made a big mistake going with Apple on this one. All that was really needed was an e-reader with PDF capability.

The iPad is the single most secure computing device on the market right now. If Apple lets the military do modifications, it can be even more secure. Cameras can be deactivated, removed, or covered, and so far there hasn't been a single infection on a non-jailbroken iPad. I think they're in good hands.
 
That iPads will save money is very short sighted. How much in IT contractor costs does it cost to maintain 50 pages of paper? How about thousands of iPads? Does 50 pages of paper crack when you accidentally drop 50 kgs of luggage on top of it? As for energy, 50 pages of paper doesn't cost anything to charge, iPads do. What happens when your much needed iPad runs out of battery? How much will the emergency back-up iPad cost or will there just be a back-up paper file anyways?

I work for the Feds and see the waste firsthand on a daily basis. This is just more govt waste.
 
So they don't use bluetooth I guess..

With all the Bluetooth issues on iOS6, I guess US military doesn't use bluetooth?
 
The AF made a big mistake going with Apple on this one. All that was really needed was an e-reader with PDF capability.

I disagree. As an ATP rated pilot with over 10K hours. The iPad is the only commercial, off-the-shelf device cleared by both the Air Force and the FAA.

Many of these devices do not employ, or are yet to be certified as having properly implemented key features such as data at rest encryption, complex passwords, support for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and [Common Access Cards] for access control, or virtual private networks.
 
That iPads will save money is very short sighted. How much in IT contractor costs does it cost to maintain 50 pages of paper? How about thousands of iPads? Does 50 pages of paper crack when you accidentally drop 50 kgs of luggage on top of it? As for energy, 50 pages of paper doesn't cost anything to charge, iPads do. What happens when your much needed iPad runs out of battery? How much will the emergency back-up iPad cost or will there just be a back-up paper file anyways?

I work for the Feds and see the waste firsthand on a daily basis. This is just more govt waste.

I used to be the technical manual distribution officer in my last duty station in the Air Force, and a heavy aircraft maintainer for 15 years. Our squadron had to maintain over 3500 technical manuals, getting multiple changes for each book every week. Inventory, proper insertion of changes, inspections, etc was an enormous time suck. Digital distribution cuts that to zero. Our maintenance personnel had to carry a 75 lb technical manual box for doing work on the flightline. Entire libraries were maintained on each aircraft in our squadron, in addition to the libraries maintained in the maintenance building for individual sign outs, deployment kits, and the like.

I'd take an iPad in a heartbeat. The government is actually being smart here, for a change. I don't have to hold a flashlight to use the device in the dark, I can send images or video of a discrepancy in motion to engineers from a forward deployed location, I have the entire aircraft tech manual library in one device. I can take time for completed discrepancies on the flightline, send emails, order parts, I can charge the device from the plane itself, etc.

The iPad is PERFECT for military use (I'd chosen the mini, though). Hell, 2 ipads would be a HUGE savings over all that damn paper (and the time it takes to maintain it).
 
Look how ancient everything else in that photo is.
MILITARY!

Simplicity is the hallmark of genius. The stuff I used in the military was very simple, rugged and worked very well. There is a huge benefit in some cases by not being on the bleeding edge of technology.
 
The iPad is the only commercial, off-the-shelf device cleared by both the Air Force and the FAA.

To be clear, the FAA does not approve devices per se. They approve overall setups using whatever device is picked.

Every carrier must spend months testing, and creating a program for their training, use, update and maintenance, for each aircraft type.

In other words, each iPad usage requires a separate approval.
 
Hoping someone here might be a pilot or might know a pilot they can ask and have this question answered:

How many of those papers have you actually read in the air, personally? Can you estimate how many of those papers anyone has ever or will ever read while in the air?

It just seems to me that it's impossible to realistically need so much information with you and that having it all in book form is really that useful, but I have no experience with this stuff so I'd like to hear from someone who knows.

You may not need it every flight, but if something breaks, you sure want the instructions to fix it. And then you start thinking about carrying all of the maps for around the world for every flight because you don't know where you are going to go next. Remember, military flights can be refueled in mid air so you can take off in California and suddenly be told you are being diverted to El Salvador instead of North Carolina.
 
Simplicity is the hallmark of genius. The stuff I used in the military was very simple, rugged and worked very well. There is a huge benefit in some cases by not being on the bleeding edge of technology.

As a Satellite Communications guy from the Army, I completely agree with you. We had equipment that you could toss out of the airplane with the operator (it was in his rucksack) and it was going to work when he got on the ground. We had other equipment that we had mounted to vehicles that were directly following the tanks into Iraq and when they stopped we had satcom up and running in 10 minutes. So we needed equipment that didn't necessarily look the newest, but it sure was going to work in some of the toughest environments out there.

And to all of our Veterans and Active Duty Military out there, a salute and a prayer for Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day.
 
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/05/1...approves-ios-6-devices-for-military-networks/
air_force_ipad.jpg

Loadmaster station of C-17 transport

With thousands of variables to deal with, a computer like the iPad is really critical to improve safety and efficiency of cargo handling.
 
The AF made a big mistake going with Apple on this one. All that was really needed was an e-reader with PDF capability.

The lack of imagination here is unbelievable.

Right now everyone is simply digitizing charts and plates, but soon interactive systems will be created that will reduce cockpit workload.

And Apple has version of iPhone with no cameras, they could easily make a military version of iPad. (They should!!).
 
Hopefully I'll be able to add my .mil email address to my phone eventually. Considering its on NIPRNET already I don't see why not. Now all I need is a CAC reader that interfaces with the lightning port, and I'd be mobile for 99% of my work.

They already have BlueTooth CAC readers that work with BlackBerry.

----------

...but soon interactive systems will be created that will reduce cockpit workload.
....

We can't say "cockpit", "fox hole", or "kill box" anymore.
 
With thousands of variables to deal with, a computer like the iPad is really critical to improve safety and efficiency of cargo handling.

Well, not quite thousands of variables. More like about a dozen.

Before microcomputers came along, we used slide rules, like this load adjuster that was custom built for each cargo aircraft model:

c&s_c47_loadadjustor.PNG

You'd add up the weight in each compartment or at each station, and then it graphically showed if a load would be out of balance for different parameters (such as remaining fuel).

The other part of a loadmaster's job doesn't require calculations, but knowledge about how to tie down cargo and prevent problems with hazardous materials.
 
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