Boeing and its U.S. Navy customers recently celebrated a newly upgraded piece of ground-support equipment that will enable faster and more efficient testing of aircraft avionics components. The Navy unveiled an upgraded version of the Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System (RTCASS ) automated test station recently at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego. This new configuration is known as RTCASS-D — the D stands for “depot” — is designed to aid military maintainers in diagnosing problems with combat aircraft while also consolidating depot-level testing into a single test station.  

For the Navy’s fleet-readiness centers, the RTCASS-D will enable maintainers to test and troubleshoot electronic systems on platforms like the F/A-18 Hornet, V-22 Osprey, AV-8B Harrier, EA-6B Prowler aircraft and the rest of the Navy and Marines Corps aviation platforms in a more efficient and cost-saving manner, program officials said. Boeing is under contract to produce 10 RTCASS-D stations, nine of which are scheduled to be deployed at fleet-readiness centers this year.