Josh Lowensohn/CNET

The U.S. Department of Defense plans to purchase more than half a million iOS devices, according to a new report.

Citing "well-placed sources," Electronista says the government plans to purchase 120,000 iPads, 100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod Touches, and 210,000 iPhones as part of an effort to update and mobilize its technologies.

As for the timing of such a deal, Electronista suggests it would happen following the current sequestration.

Apple declined to comment on the report, and the Defense Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

Last month the Department of Defense announced that it was dropping its exclusive contract with handset maker BlackBerry and opening up its communications networks to others, like Apple and Google.

The Department uses more than 600,000 mobile devices already -- 470,000 of which are BlackBerry -- with another 41,000 made by Apple and 8,700 running Google's Android platform. Last October the organization said that it plans to ramp that up to 8 million devices.

The move, which remains unconfirmed, comes on the heels of the UK government's electronics clearance unit deeming Blackberry 10 to be not as secure as previous versions of the platform -- a blow for the Canadian device maker that first released the softwarein late January after delays.