Common test architecture development for munitions level best platforms

A need for a common munitions test architecture emerged with the development of sophisticated weapon systems and the need to support those weapon systems from the production floor in the factory through night test. With the cost of test soaring, more and more money was being spent on special test equipment and less and less on the procurement of weapon systems. A common architecture for hardware and software reduces the high cost of Automated Test Equipment (ATE). Raytheon Company first developed this architecture as part of the development of the Guided Weapons Test Station (GWTS). The GWTS is a standard family of ATE which meets the defense industry's need for a common munitions tester at the ail-up-round (AUR) and guidance section levels. The GWTS is comprised primarily of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) instrumentation and software. The need for a more robust architecture on munitions level platforms arises with the continued development of test instrumentation and software, and the understanding of the automated test environment, Raytheon has continued to evolve this architecture for use on their component and intermediate level Standard Test Equipment Platforms (STEPs) and in the future hopes to incorporate these changes into their next generation of munitions level test platforms. A candidate for this next generation platform would be the development of a Common Munition STEP (CMSTEP) that could be utilized in conjunction with future developed Operational Test Program Sets (OTPSs) to provide munitions level test capability.