Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., are asking engineers at the Lockheed Martin Mission Support and Training segment in Orlando, Fla., to build 29 electronic Consolidated Automated Support System (eCASS) low-rate initial production (LRIP) units.
The eCASS equipment is designed to help sailors and Marines to troubleshoot and repair aircraft assemblies at sea or ashore and return the avionics to service quickly.
The contract calls for Lockheed Martin to provide 29 eCASS radio frequency systems; 14 self-maintenance and test calibration operational test program sets; 12 calibration equipment kits; 29 shore installation kits; six ship installation kits; five test program sets development suites; seven high-power mission equipment kits; 21 electro-optic mission equipment kits; and one production asset.
The eCASS test equipment is replacing the Navy's legacy CASS test equipment originally fielded in the early 1990s. CASS is the Navy’s standard automatic test equipment family supporting electronics on naval aircraft.
The first eCASS station was to be delivered to the Navy last November to support all the aircraft in the Navy’s fleet, extending to new weapons systems such as the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter. Lockheed Martin won a $103 million LRIP contract in January 2014 for the first 36 eCASS stations.
The eCASS station is the workhorse for avionics repair across the naval aviation enterprise, Lockheed Martin officials say. The test gear helps aircraft maintainers return equipment to readiness status quickly and efficiently. Compatibility with legacy CASS stations preserves the Navy’s investment in more than 550 test program sets supporting 750 avionic components.
The eCASS architecture is based on the Lockheed Martin LM-STAR commercial automated testing system that is designed to facilitate technology insertion and long-term supportability.
Related: Lockheed Martin wins $103 million to produce automated test systems for U.S. Navy
LM-STAR serves as the cornerstone of the F-35 Lightning II harmonization plan, which helps enable several different avionics manufacturers to develop tests to help electronics move from the factory floor to fleet maintenance depots, Lockheed Martin officials say.
On this contract Lockheed Martin will do the work in Orlando, Fla.; Hunt Valley, Md.; North Reading, Mass.; Irvine, Calif.; San Diego; Austin, Texas; Minneapolis; Bohemia, N.Y.; Everett, Wash.; and Woodstock, N.Y., and should be finished by July 2017.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/mst, or the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division-Lakehurst at www.navair.navy.mil.
