A system developed to assess the U.S. Strategic Command’s new software using real-world, classified data will possibly meet initial operational capability in October 2018.

The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base said Sunday the Integrated Strategic Planning and Analysis Network is in its fourth increment with a budget baseline of $150 million.

ISPAN was developed under the modernization effort of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Battle Management Directorate’s command and control division for STRATCOM in 2012.

Bruce Van Zuiden, ISPAN’s chief of infrastructure management and STRATCOM’s program manager, stated that defects from discovering bugs late in the software development process could reach $10,000 to fix.

“Finding [the bugs] early saves us that money, but it also helps the contractors build us better code from the get-go,” he added.

When the ISPAN program office used the testing system, it only discovered one issue with a non-compliant interface in three years.

Ray Clark, program management support contractor, also noted that the assessment program has helped contractors develop better products.