Air Force may buy 18,000 Apple iPads for flight crews

The Air Force may buy as many as 18,000 iPad 2s in what would be one of the military's biggest orders of computer tablets, accelerating Apple's inroads into the federal government.

The service's Air Mobility Command plans to issue a request for proposals to buy between 63 and 18,000 iPad 2s or similar devices to lighten the load of flight crews, according to a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

The goal is to replace the bag of manuals and navigation charts weighing as much as 40 pounds that are carried by pilots and navigators, said Capt. Kathleen Ferrero, a spokeswoman for the command.

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., has been eating away at Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion's market share in the federal government market.

The Department of Veterans Affairs last year announced a plan to let its employees use iPhones and iPads to conduct official work on the agency's network. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week said it would supply employees with iPhones, the latest government organization to drop RIM's BlackBerry.

Other military branches have also begun buying phones and tablets running Apple's iOS and Mountain View, Calif.-based Google's Android operating systems.

The Army has purchased about 1,300 various mobile devices as part of a pilot program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications, according to Mike McCarthy, who helps oversee the service's program. About 50 Android-based tablets will accompany troops deploying to Afghanistan this summer, McCarthy said.

RIM's share of the global smartphone market slid to 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter from 14 percent a year earlier, while Apple's share rose to 24 percent from 16 percent in the same period, according to research firm IDC of Framingham, Mass.

RIM's BlackBerry may be joined by other mobile devices with certification to access the Pentagon's sensitive and classified networks.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is part of the Commerce Department and develops security standards for the federal government, is reviewing an application from Apple to validate encryption on the iPhone and iPad, according to Evelyn Brown, an agency spokeswoman.

Government mobile devices that hold, process or transmit encrypted information must employ hardware and software that meet federal standards, she said.

Ferrero, the Air Force command spokeswoman, said she expects the request to be released in the next week or two and open to any number of tablets, not just those made by Apple.