Simon Robbins wrote:

"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

Cots (commercial off the shelf technology) is a two edges sword.
It used to be the military stuff was custom built at very high (and
expensive) spec ratings. Now with commercial computer and processor
development running rampant, the consumer side drives the market.
Yea, it makes a new product have a higher performance levels than a older
custom design could in many instances. But, it also makes the obselecense
issue much more of a problem.. I think if you asked Intel to whip up a few
thousand 8080's they would laugh at you and show you the door. Even if the
government asked.

Makes me also wonder about the new generation of software military radios
that are essentially more computer than conventional radio.

I also wonder what the russians ar doing these days for computer chips.
I think i remember them cloning some early CPU's. I cannot see them
cloning a P4 level chip. What chips are the russians using these days?
Is there any export restrictions still on high level CPU's to the russians?
even if there was, it probably is not too big a deal to transship around
the problem.

BOB



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