USING COMMERCIAL-OFF-THE-SHELF (COTS) PRODUCTS IN THE DESIGN OF MISSILE FLIGHT-QUALIFIED HARDWARE

Abstract

During these times of acquisition reform in the federal government, various missile systems are being forced into using Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) products in the design of their subsystems. However one problem that this presents is the lack of configuration management. There is a concern that the manufacturer will modify the product without informing the end user. This may have a severe effect on the performance of an already flight qualified subsystem. An example of how one program is dealing with this issue will be discussed.