Agenda:
- Bill Ross (Eagle Systems, NAVAIR)
- Introduction and Background
- Pat Curry (Army, Product Director TMDE)
- US Army ATS Roadmap
- Jim Deffler (Navy, ATS Program Office)
- Naval Aviation ATS Roadmap
- Tom Hale (Marine Corps, ATS Program Office)
- Ground Marine Corps ATS Roadmap
- Kevin Simpson (Air Force, ATS Division)
- Air Force ATS Roadmap
Minutes
Event: On 25 July 2023, the Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG) hosted a virtual forum on “Automatic Test Systems”.
Purpose: The purpose of this forum was to present and discuss the capabilities of the Automatic Test Systems (ATS) technologies, updates, and challenges associated with the use of ATS within the Military Services.
Welcome: Ray Langlais, ODASD (Materiel Readiness), welcomed everyone to the forum, explained the JTEG Forum series, provided a brief introduction of the significance of ATS technologies within the DoD sustainment community, and previewed the agenda.
Administrative: There were 76 people in attendance on the open forum. The presentations, along with questions and answers, were conducted through Zoom.Gov which also offered a chat capability for comments and Q&A. Each presenter provided a 10–20-minute brief of their organizations’ applicable emerging technologies. Several requests for presenter contact information and slides were received.
DoD ATS Overview – Bill Ross (Eagle Systems, NAVAIR) provided an introduction and background to ATS strategies and technologies. He described the issues in the late 90s and OSD’s response to include establishing an ATS Executive Directorate to improve coordination, and developing goals to reduce total cost of ownership, provide greater flexibility through interoperable ATS, reduce the logistics footprint, and improve the quality of test. The result has been designation of DoD standard ATS families, sharing of technologies, and each military service modernizing to their own standard ATS family.
U.S. Army ATS Roadmap — Pat Curry (PD TMDE) discussed the U.S. Army’s off-platform ATS designated as Next Generation ATS (NGATS) which provides an organic fix-forward capability. He described NGATS fielding and its ability to test and return line-replaceable units (LRUs) at the point of need resulting in increased readiness and savings. Ken Van (PD TMDE) discussed at-platform ATS to include the maintenance support device-version 4, the wireless at-platform test set, and vehicle under test, as well as the diagnostic software – Viper and a vehicle predictive logistics data source collector.
U.S. Navy ATS Roadmap — Jim Deffler briefed the Naval Aviation common ATS roadmap to include the ATS portfolio of equipment called Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) Family of Testers (FoT). The second generation of CASS FoT, known as RTCASS, is used by the Marine Corps to be replaced by eCASS introduced with the F-35. Jim described some additional testers and concluded with a discussion of ATS emerging trends and challenges.
Marine Corps ATS Roadmap — Tom Hale provided an ATS portfolio overview to include the USMC ATS concept and the following equipment: General Purpose ATS (GPATS), Handheld Radio Test Set (HHRTS), Tactical Radio Intermediate Test System (TRITS), Circuit Card Assembly Test Station (CCATS), Electronic Maintenance Support System (EMSS)/Vehicle Automated Diagnostic System (VADS)/Wireless At-Platform Test Set (WATS), and Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+).
Air Force ATS Roadmap — Kevin Simpson discussed the ATS roadmaps and future strategies to include a graphic depiction of Flight Line of the Future (FLoF) with standardized data, CBM+, and cyber connectivity. He described DoD and Air Force current common/FoT solutions and ongoing efforts with USAF Common Aircraft Portable Reprogramming Equipment (CAPRE) Secure Memory Loader/Verifier (SMLV), Fighter-Aircraft Smart Weapons Test Set (ASWTS), and the Common Armament Tester- Fighter (CAT-F). He followed with a description of digital transformation and how FLoF will require seamless horizontal and vertical transmission and analysis. He concluded by stating that AF ATS continues to stive towards commonality, stressed the importance of influencing new weapon systems and program modifications upfront and early to use common ATS, that we must ensure cyber security compliance, and accelerate acquisitions thru Digital Transformation.
Q&A – A Q&A occurred after each briefer finished their presentation.
Closing Comments: Steve McKee, ODASD(Materiel Readiness) thanked the panelists and participants for their attendance and all the work being done to support the development and use of ATS technologies in support of DoD sustainment operations.
Action Items:
- Obtain copies of remaining cleared presentations once they are approved to post to a public website, and post to the JTEG website at https://jteg.ncms.org/.
Next JTEG Meeting: The next scheduled JTEG virtual forum is 29 August 2023, 1:00 – 3:00 pm EST. The topic is “U.S. Airforce Sustainment Related Technologies”.
POC this action is Ray Langlais, rlanglais@lmi.org, (571) 633-8019