ATS in the Air Force: the legacy and its challenges

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of sustaining ATS in support of the Air Force (AF) mission. The paper also addresses where our current sustainment business is centered, and the process improvements being developed in the Air Force ATS Product Group Manager (PGM) sustainment arena. (The ATS PGM is SA-ALC/LDA at Kelly AFB, Texas.) ATS has become the "life blood" of the maintenance shop with its speed, reliability and fewer personnel required to perform the testing. With the trend in the DoD toward sustaining existing weapon systems rather than developing new and costly ones, reduced maintenance costs derived from the utilization of common ATS solutions can have a major impact on the AF's budget for many years to come. These cost savings would result from the reduced manpower required for operation, and due to a reduction in the numbers and types of equipment required for testing and repair.