Marvin Test Solutions has received a contract for the delivery of a customised test platform for the portable armament test set-70 (PATS-70) flightline test set for the US Air Force’s (USAF) upgraded A-10/C Thunderbolt ll aircraft.
Under the $5.7m contract, the company will supply the MTS-207 ultra-rugged flightline test set, a PXI-based, portable solution customised by the company in response to the requirements defined by test officials from Hill Air Force Base (AFB).
Marvin Test Solutions CEO and USAF (Ret.) major general Steve Sargeant said the company used its mil-spec compliant commercial off the shelf, ultra-rugged chassis to partner with the USAF, enabling its test engineers to rapidly develop and qualify the system for support of A-10/C avionics and electronics.
Sargeant said: ”We were able to significantly reduce the fielding time of this mission-critical test set to the A-10/C community.
"The new PATS-70 is a high-performance flightline test set in a portable, ultra-rugged deployable chassis, and allows the A-10/C maintenance community to fully test the critical systems of the A-10/C while minimising logistics and simplifying operation."
Equipped with 14 slots, the platform will form the basis for the new PATS-70 test solution, which will fully validate the soldiers’ upgraded digital avionics and precision weapon electronics, including friend-or-foe identification, anti-skid, alpha mach, fuel quantity, stability augmentation system and MIL-STD-1760 protocol buses.
In addition to offering necessary flexibility for integration of additional test instrumentation into the system for future test requirements, the MTS-207 also enabled the air force to significantly reduce the time and cost required to provide the PATS-70 to the A-10/C community.
The system was fitted with cables, a user interface and test programme software for conversion to PATS-70 test solution.
The A-10/C is a modified variant of the A-10/A aircraft, featuring upgraded avionics, and carry smart weapons.
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Image: A USAF’s A-10A Thunderbolt II aircraft in flight during a Nato Operation Allied Force combat mission. Photo: courtesy of USAF Senior Airman Greg L. Davis.
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