U.S. Navy approves full rate production of Lockheed Martin's avionics test system
NewsFebruary 16, 2017
ORLANDO, Fla. U.S. Navy officials approved a full rate production contract with Lockheed Martin for an additional 63 of the company's Electronic Consolidated Automated Support System (eCASS). The contract is worth an estimated $166 million.
"The Navy actively participated in the development and design of eCASS – it's truly been a great partnership," says Laura Frank, vice president of Integrated Test and Logistics at Lockheed Martin.
The eCASS technology has a smaller footprint than the legacy CASS, officials say. Users will be able to handle a larger workload with less equipment to ensure aircraft avionics are mission ready. Engineers design the eCass to be compatible with more than 550 test program sets (TPS) that will allow avionics systems to be tested for a multitude of platforms. eCASS will also enable the service a cost avoidance of $1 billion annually by averting the repair of avionics at the next level of maintenance or sending the parts back to the original equipment manufacturer.
Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 65 eCASS systems to the Navy since 2010, enabling the service to test avionics both ashore and at sea. Three hundred and forty one stations are expected to support U.S. naval weapons systems once the transition to eCASS is complete.
Read more on avionics:
Implementing FACE-conformant avionics systems
Military helicopter avionics upgrades embrace COTS, FACE
Certifying COTS avionics hardware to DAL A is common sense
