The maintenance and instruction manuals for the F-16 fighter amount to 50,000 pages of words, pictures and illustrations. Noting that the navy began putting most of its aircraft (and ship) maintenance manuals on CDROMs in the late 1990s, the F-16s manufacturer is following the trend. The F-16 manuals will be available online, and easily downloadable to laptops or PDAs. Troops are finding PDAs very handy for carrying data, especially when out in the field, or out maintaining vehicles. The manuals have been prepared electronically for several decades, so cutting out the printing process saves millions of dollars in expense and makes it easier to update the manuals as well. Hundreds of tons of manuals will no longer be needed.