The U.S. military is one of the best equipped in the world and recently a pilot program was developed by Marines who are trying to replace the maps from airplanes and helicopters with iPad tablet. The problem lies in the fact that American pilots have tens of kilograms of cockpit maps, maps that they have to look coordinated when they are asked to attack a target.
Since it is very hard to look coordinated in such a way, a captain thought it more useful would be to use an iPad tablet that could be loaded all the maps and that would allow a much easier search and discovery of coordinates of a location.
The Marines recently took a baby step towards a more efficient future when the 3rd Aircraft Wing bought 32 iPads. The total purchase — not quite $20,000 worth of tablets and accessories, according to Defense News — was merely “a hiccup in the grand scheme of defense spending,” a former deputy G-3 for operations pointed out. But it could be a crucial advance in aerial warfare.
After a year of testing it seems that the tablet is successful and even managed to reduce, by up to 15 minutes of communication between soldiers. The only two issues that currently prevent the use of the tablets are that it uses encrypted communications equipment and that the maps loaded on the tablet are not checked by the army.
Of course the problems are minor and the U.S. military will surely find a quick way to solve the problem with Apple and soon we could see the pilots in cabins equipped with iPad tablet in helicopters or aircraft.
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