obsolete military parts spares replacement part

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The objective of the Electronic Parts Obsolescence Initiative is to insure
Air Force mission readiness and increase the fielded life of weapons
systems at an affordable cost by developing a systematic approach to
managing obsolescence. EPOI is developing management & re
engineering tools for defense systems affected by parts obsolescence
and reliability models for commercially manufactured electronics utilized
in defense systems. This initiative currently consists of eight programs
covering three key areas of work:

1) Parts Obsolescence Management and Re-engineering Tools,

2) The Application of Commercially Manufactured Electronics
(ACME), and 3) Pilot Demonstration Programs. The initiative's main
technology foci are mixed signal electronics, Application Specific
Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Physics of Failure validation with
commercial field return data, and standardized information exchange.

The Army maintains a very proactive, leadership position implementing Acquisition/Logistics Reform initiatives. The ability to modernize our
weapon systems by procurement of new systems has been reduced by
the decreasing procurement budget. As the inventory of deployed
weapons becomes older, we must find alternative methods to
modernize these aging systems.

Leveraging O&S funds expenditure to achieve modernization objectives
is one of these methods. The Army is reviewing every spares acquisition
to determine the optimum acquisition strategies and maintenance
concepts. Historically, the Army has controlled the engineering
development and production processes by directing industry in
microscopic detail on how
to design and manufacture weapon systems. Commercial industry, on the
other hand, does not have the same relationship with its general public
customers.

The commercial business world determines market needs for products,
then designs, manufactures, and supports these products without any
customer input on how to do its business. DOD has moved in this
direction through acquisition reform and the use of performance
based specifications that basically describe what the performance
requirements are for a weapon system and not how to build weapon
systems, as was traditionally done with military specifications.