Army and navy management of automatic test systems for weapon system support: Comparing us army and us navy ats management practices

DOD Automatic Test Systems (ATS) guidance addresses the DOD-wide problem of Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) proliferation by establishing a requirement for a standard family of ATE in each Service that is based on non-proprietary open-architecture hardware and software. Policy requirements for ATS management are described in Navy Instructions and Army Regulations and DA PAMs. These guidance publications follow DOD guidance for ATS acquisition and support. While this guidance has been in effect for over 30 years, in the Army it is honored more in the breech than in practice. As a result, the costs of non-standard ATE hardware and Test Program Set (TPS) software have become a major Army sustainment cost burden. In order to follow DOD guidance, each Service established a Program of Record (PoR) to manage ATS acquisition and support and also established ATS technical support organizations to act as organic ATE-TPS centers of excellence. Managed by PD-TMDE, The Army standard family of ATE is the Integrated Family of Test Equipment (IFTE), for which the Next-Generation Automatic Test System (NGATS) is the current off-system ATE. In the Navy, PMA260 at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) was established in the 1980's to manage the Navy's ATE family, the Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) which has undergone a series of planned upgrades over the years. This paper describes the key Army and Navy organizations that acquire, develop, manage and sustain Automatic Test Systems. We examine ATS policies and procedures for ATE and weapon system TPS life-cycle support and describe key differences in ATE and TPS acquisition and support between the Services.