Aging Military Electronics: What Can the Pentagon Do?

• Author: Hamilton, Philip
• Position: Maintenance and obsolescence of electronics

The long life span expected in current and future weapon systems, coupled with the fast-paced advances in commercial electronic technologies and the gradual erosion of the manufacturing base for military electronics have created the so-called "obsolescence" program that today plagues many weapon systems.

During the past decade, many acquisition reform initiatives at the Defense Department were motivated by the desire to tap the explosive growth in electronics capabilities of the commercial and consumer industry. In the 1980s, the Defense Department attempted to develop a new generation of unique, dedicated computers, only to find, after many years and more than a billion dollars devoted to the project, that the computers were obsolete and incompatible with the latest industry standards. This experience helped fuel the move to the use of commercial off-the-shelf technology in new systems and upgrades of aging systems.

It has become clear that the Defense Department is facing a significant obsolescence problem with respect to electronic components, exacerbated both by industry trends and by a reluctance to acknowledge its depth and breadth.

The evolution of the obsolescence problem is perhaps best understood by first reviewing the changing role of military electronics in the semiconductor industry during the past 25 years. During the 1970s, military requirements drove nearly all cutting-edge electronics research and development, and the military purchased about 35 percent of the industry's output of semiconductor components.

By 1984, the military was purchasing only 7 percent of the total domestic semiconductor output. But in spite of the reduced market share, military business was still desirable. The military still bought the most advanced and profitable chips and components, so most vendors continued to supply the military.

It was at this time, however, that the momentum began building to redesign military acquisition processes, in part to capitalize more effectively on the rapid developments in commercial electronics. This well-intentioned movement ultimately failed to anticipate the fallout from the electronics industry's explosive growth, which would significantly change the ground rules for manufacturers.

By the late 1990s, military purchasers confronted a commercial electronics base that was expanding exponentially. Yet there was a lag in the understanding of how commercial growth would affect the manufacture of electronics at the component level.

The military's share of component purchases is now under 1 percent. As a result, the military...