Leveraging cots Opto-electroincs for military use

So why are COTS still not used in many deployments? In the past 10 years, many Optoelectronic component and subsystem companies disappeared after the dot-com bust. This forced the remaining companies to focus tactically on products customers would commit to buy. Few products were newly developed without a waiting market or customer commitment and development budgets where significantly reduced. Companies no longer developed products just to fill out their product portfolios. These designs and product roadmaps had little to no influence from the defense or military arena. Further complicating the issue was the widening gap in the fundamental technology - with many military applications using multimode and the commercial telecom market using single mode. Furthermore since many military programs can be relatively low volume in comparison to commercial applications, the influence of these military applications on products being developed was minimal. On the military side, there was limited understanding and awareness of the roadmaps driving the commercial market or a way of influencing these developments. Closer coupling of future military needs with component manufacturers would benefit both. Many military customers are reluctant to share future directions due to competitive or security concerns. By utilizing COTS, minimal information needs to be shared on the application or integration and deployment costs can be reduced.