"Smartace11" wrote in message
...
Buy out critical items at the end of production and hope the supply never
runs
out, at least not until the avionics can be upgraded. Buy from "junkies",
ie
electronic salvage firms that know DoD will need certain parts, buy them
for
pennies on the dollar and sell them to DoD for dollars on the penny.

Exactly. Basically what's done is, if there's a risk of obsolescense then
the manufacturer has to prove they can supply spares for a known number of
years, typically up to the next forseeable major update. There are many
systems flying now that contain processors that have been out of production
for years. (Believe it or not there are systems that are waiting to be
fitted to aircraft not due to enter service for years that already contain
obsolete components!) Companies often scour the world for long-lost stocks
of obsolete processors, etc. when maintenance becomes a problem.

Si