Ate and aircraft mechanical diagnostics

The Army is committed to fielding a family of automatic test support systems (ATSS) to support all Army materiel. The current plan is to field the AN/USM-410 "third generation" ATE. The Army has also sponsored a significant amount of work aimed at achieving an "on condition" maintenance philosophy for major aircraft sub systems by monitoring turbine engine performance, engine mechanical condition, health of various rotating dynamic components, hydraulic systems, and structural integrity of the aircraft. The objective is to investigate the viability of accomplishing the aircraft condition monitoring and diagnostic task using ATE. Significant points are the following: non-intrusive monitoring of aircraft mechanical systems is possible; impressive benefits can be attributed to this approach, but several attempts at fielding such a system have been terminated because of excessive initial in vestment costs; and mechanical diagnostics is not a simple extension of a measurement capability.