Status report on Vacuum Arc Ion Source operation at the GSI accelerator facility

Vacuum arc ion sources are used for the production of high current ion beams of a variety of metallic ions at the GSI accelerator facility. For accelerator operation the ion source has to provide a stable beam and has to run with high reliability over a long period of time. The status of beam time operation at the high current injector at GSI is presented here giving an outline on beam currents achieved, the long term behaviour of the ion beam currents, the transmission along the low energy beam transport section, the lifetime and the availability of the ion source for various ion species