Air Force May Buy 18,000 Apple IPad 2s

The U.S. Air Force may buy as many as 18,000 iPad2s 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 2, Brand Name or Equal 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 Captain Kathleen Ferrero, a spokeswoman for the command. “The airline industry is way ahead of us on this,” she said in a telephone interview. “Most, if not all of the major airliners are already switching to tablets.”