SKWIERZYNA, Poland — Since the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division hit the ground running in April 2022, they've been working on becoming fit to fight during their rotation in Poland. By using the Next Generation Automatic Test System to repair instead of discarding line-replaceable units — or LRUs — within Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M1A2 Abrams tanks, they have saved the U.S. Army $26 million in just five months.
During the summer of 2021, the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was one of the first brigades to field the Next Generation Automatic Test System, or NGATS, allowing them to prepare for the current mobilization.
“We have been fielded two NGATS systems, consisting of four containers that have electronic diagnosis and troubleshooting systems inside of them, along with work benches and an overhead lift system,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Reardon, commander of the 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
“The Soldiers will take an LRU, they’ll put it on the lift system, they’ll set it on the workbench, and hook up the wiring harnesses to the LRU. Those wiring harnesses feed back into the electronic troubleshooting and diagnosis system and then they’ll run the diagnosis. What the NGATS does is determine where the faults are inside of that LRU. So, it will tell us that a circuit card is faulty, then we know we just need to replace that one circuit card to bring the entire LRU fully mission capable for that Bradley.”
The LRU is the brains of the warfighting machinery, and without the brains, it becomes non-mission capable.
“Every tank and every Bradley has an LRU, these are basically boxes full of electronic components inside that perform various functions on those platforms," Reardon said. "A simple LRU could cost anywhere from $80,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the capability that we bring with the NGATS system is the ability to repair the internals of those very expensive components. So, where we can buy and replace a circuit card for $14,000 and crack open an LRU and replace the simple circuit card, it saves us from purchasing a whole new LRU that may be $80,000 to $100,000.”
Reardon is proud of the Soldiers who run the NGATS, namely five automatic test systems operators and one electronic systems maintenance warrant officer, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Rodriguez. Rightfully so, the previous unit, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, saved an estimated $3 million in the first few months of their Poland rotation. The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team has already saved eight times that amount in five months.
“We already saved, based on the troubleshooting and repairs that we did, a lot more exponentially compared to how the last unit did,” Rodriguez said.
When asked why, Rodriguez responded, “They were using the old system, DSESTS, which is a predecessor system to NGATS.”
The Direct Support Electrical Systems Test Sets — or DSESTS — is currently being replaced by the more efficient NGATS system.
“DSESTS is the legacy system we have had for years,” Reardon said. “Over the last couple of years, the NGATS has replaced the DSESTS which has been around since probably the 80s. Army Materiel Command fielded us the NGATS platforms and that has proven to be much more efficient than the DSESTS system that we have used forever.”
The NGATS system allows for a more precise diagnosis of issues within an LRU that might require repair or replacement.
“When we talk about our control systems and electronics, that’s really where we’re talking about LRUs,” Reardon added. “If our operational readiness number drops, it’s generally because of LRU failures. And that’s where it’s so critical to get them diagnosed, repaired and back in the fight so that the Soldiers can continue firing on those platforms and remain ready at all times.”
Social Sharing