From 1980 to 1992, the DoD spent over $50 billion acquiring Automatic Test Systems (ATS) used to test weapon systems. At that time, procuring unique ATS to support single weapon systems was the norm. In 1994, the DoD made a dramatic change to their ATS acquisition policy;common ATS that supported multiple weapon systems was preferred over ATS tailored to support a single weapon system. Expected benefits of thisnew policy included: more reliable equipment, increased supportability, decreased cost, smaller logistics footprint, and decreased manning. To date, the common ATS initiative has garnered little support AF-wide due to lack of substantive data supporting the expected benefits in a practical setting.The majority of the ATS procured in the 1980-1992 "bubble" is still in service but is facing severe aging and obsolescence issues.
