With a $166 million contract for the delivery of 63 eCASS stations, the U.S. Navy has approved full rate production of Lockheed Martin’s Electronic Consolidated Automated Support System (eCASS).
eCASS provides shore-based and afloat intermediate and depot level maintenance and repair capabilities for all naval aircraft, ship and submarine electronics systems.
According to Lockheed Martin, the new eCASS technology has a smaller footprint than the legacy CASS and is faster and more reliable.
“The Navy actively participated in the development and design of eCASS – it’s truly been a great partnership,” said Laura Frank , vice president of Integrated Test and Logistics at Lockheed Martin. “This is a great example of how we’re looking to leverage commonality across our organization to deliver a highly cost-effective test capability that’s prepared to support our customers well into the future.”
eCASS is designed to be compatible with more than 550 test program sets (TPS) that will allow avionics systems to be tested for a multitude of platforms. This allows the Navy to extend its investment in existing technologies, while ensuring a smooth transition from the legacy CASS architecture. 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.
eCASS system is also capable of supporting the advanced avionics of the F-35.
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.