Earlier this week the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 became the first tablet to receive a Trade Agreements Act (TAA) certification. In light of these events, Samsung Electronics America, together with global IT systems integrator Intelligent Decisions (ID), has revealed the details on a new contract with the U.S. Air Force (USAF), revolving around the use of Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablets in U.S. Air Force bases around the world.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 underwent rigorous tests performed by the USAF in order to determine whether or not it’s the right tool for the job. The slate was subjected to multiple atmosphere, temperature, and decompression tests, and needless to say the tablet successfully passed the hardware tests, met the “strict software standards”, and has been certified for the e-Tools program. As a result, the USAF will use the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 not only for flight line, but the slate will also become an important tool for USAF technicians who have previously relied on ruggedized laptops to “access over 2,000 technical orders” for launching, maintaining, and recovering aircraft assets. Switching from ruggedized laptops to Samsung tablets will apparently lead to significant cost savings, and the tablet should also streamline various processes and simplify troubleshooting, by providing a single point of access to manuals, parts databases, and digitized technical orders. The USAF technicians can also use the tablet to process real-time maintenance data collection, deliver paperless technical orders, and access the Air Force Enhanced Technical Information Management System portal (ETIMS) securely. According to the press release, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 will become part of the USAF e-Tools program “effective immediately”.
It’s unclear which Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 models will be used by the U.S. Air Force, but the slate is available to the public in two sizes. The larger model accommodates a 9.7-inch display, whereas its smaller counterpart is equipped with an 8-inch panel. Both models have screen resolutions of 1536 x 2048, they are powered by an Exynos 5433 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC and 3 GB of RAM, they feature an 8-megapixel main camera coupled with a 2.1 MP front-facing sensor, and both were released with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop out of the box and are now eligible for Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.