Commilitary-another new world order

Commilitary is the use of commercial practices to achieve military functional designs that provide high performance in inexpensive systems. It is pointed out that commilitary is not the answer for flight-critical, high-tech military superiority, but deserves consideration in applications where cost-effective trades may mean better performance within limited fiscal bounds. The military has been challenged to reduce cost, but has been unable to achieve the economies of scale of commercial applications. It is noted that through use of a family of products based on the same common modules the necessary volumes can be realized. Systems embodying this concept have been built by Westinghouse under the product name MODAR (Modular Avionics Radars). Commilitary designs call for a mix of military quality and technology with some basic restrictions and approaches that are common to the commercial world. the authors explore areas such as parts selection, environmental conditions, levels of inspection and test, and configuration control which must be tailored for high-volume modules