ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. – U.S. Air Force electronics experts are looking to Keysight Technologies Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colo., to assemble field- and depot-level avionics test and measurement systems under terms of a $12.5 million order announced Monday.
Officials of the Air Force Sustainment Center at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., are asking Keysight to provide kits to assemble the Versatile Diagnostic Automatic Test Station (VDATS).
VDATS is the Air Force member of the U.S. military families-of-testers, and is the Air Force's directed and preferred automatic test solution.
The station has a modular open-systems architecture design and is adaptable to most electronic test and measurement needs. It was designed originally for depot testing capabilities, but is suitable for intermediate-level testing under controlled conditions. Keysight and Rohde & Schwarz USA Inc. in Columbia, Md., provide VDATS kits to the Air Force.
Automated test system
The Keysight VDATS equipment represents a standardized automated test system for the Air Force for performing functional and diagnostic testing on aerospace and defense electronic components and assemblies.
VDATS tests, diagnoses, and validates line replaceable units, shop replaceable units, and circuit card assemblies for military aircraft and other defense systems. Keysight provides VDATS hardware, software, and support tools.
VDATS supports digital, analog, and RF testing to enable technicians to verify that electronic subsystems and components are functioning correctly and meet required specifications.
The U.S. military deploys VDATS at locations such as depot and sustainment facilities for military electronics maintenance, repair, and overhaul. Today test and measurement experts at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa., build the VDATS organically.
Core configurations
The VDATS tester comes in two core configurations: the digital analog (DA)-1 that handles most analog and light digital requirements; and the DA-2 station for enhanced digital testing for advanced avionics testing. It also has a radio-frequency roll-up assembly for standard RF test capability.
These configurations support military aircraft that include the A-10, B-1, B-2, B-52, C-5, C-17, C-130, E-3, E-8C, F-15, F-16, F-22, H-53, H-60, KC-135 MC-4, MQ-9, and UH-1 military fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and uncrewed aircraft.
On this order, Keysight will do the work at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and should be finished by March 2026. For more information contact Keysight Technologies online at www.keysight.com/us/en/home.html, or the Air Force Sustainment Center at www.afsc.af.mil.
