Meeting military system test requirements with the usage of COTS products

The Perry Initiative in 1994 provided a top-down directive for the defense industry to use the benefits of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) technology to effect major cost savings in military programs. While such military product cost reduction advantages have become well publicized, less well known is the concomitant problem of meeting military system test requirements with equipment that has been designed for commercial applications. This paper describes and addresses the test problems caused by the insertion of COTS products into military systems. A systematic approach is presented that provides a general methodology for meeting military system test requirements with COTS product usage. This process maximizes reuse of existing COTS supplier tests, and gives guidelines for determining and closing performance gaps regarding military requirements. Some specific techniques for assessing the quality of existing COTS product tests are described. Also discussed is how to fulfill the need for a library of test improvement techniques that can be applied to closing COTS product test performance gaps to meet military test requirements. Finally, military field supportability implications of COTS product usage are considered