Military use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment: updated E3 concerns

The use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment on military platforms is expected to significantly increase as United States Secretary of Defense William Perry´s acquisition reform initiative continues to be implemented. COTS installations an military platforms have demonstrated both the expected performance and time-to-develop improvements, as well as some unexpected problems due to electromagnetic environmental effects (E³) emission or susceptibility problems. Rapid response electromagnetic interference (EMI) reduction teams have been able to successfully apply traditional Department of Defense E³ installation and design techniques to restore some of the system performance. These lessons-learned experiences have shown that program managers can neither ignore E³ requirements nor simply specify existing commercial EMI requirements. To minimize the potential negatives due to the use of COTS equipment, it is necessary to analyze the causes of the existing problems and develop a methodology to minimize or eliminate similar E³ problems on future military platforms