Aeronautical Systems Center engaged a small business vendor, ITCN, Inc., in Centerville, Ohio, to help develop a better means for B-2 bomber maintainers to identify avionics problems—it worked. The prototype databus will help B-2 technicians isolate wiring cable problems to within six to 12 inches, which means they can find “performance discrepancies with pinpoint accuracy,” improving B-2 mission readiness, reports ASC’s Bruce Long. ASC expects to field the prototype unit at Whiteman AFB, Mo., sometime this month for further testing.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
