The future of military standards-a focus on electronics

It is noted that with cutbacks in the military and the changing international economic environment, there is a growing perception that the military must rely on commercial industries in order to afford the next generation of high-performance and high-reliability military systems. What is not clear is whether an industrial base for the defense can be provided and maintained without dramatic changes in the operation of both the government and commercial industry. The authors examine one issue associated with this question-whether commercial standards can effectively supplant military standards and still provide high performance and reliability for military missions