We reported earlier this year about the United States Air Force’s plans to purchase iPads to replace its traditional flight bags with lighter more efficient digital versions. Now we have a video that gives us a behind-the-scenes peek at exactly how they made the decision to do so.
In the video, we get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the reasons that lead to the decision, including: savings of $3.20 for every $1 spent, $34 million in paper savings over 10 years, a 90 percent reduction in man-hours for maintaining charts and maps, and 22,000 man hours productivity increase.
The video features Electronic Flight Bag Program Manager Maj Pete Birchenough.
We also get to take a look at some of the software being used on the iPads, and the support team tasked to keep the apps running and secure. Electronic Fight Bag Requirements Manager Rich Quidgoen explains the difficulties the team had convincing security officials to allow the Air Force to work with Apple products. He noted that going with a “non-windows device garnered an unbelievable amount of resistance from virtually every agency,” adding that going with a Windows device would have been much easier if it was an “adequate solution.”