E/sup 3/ concerns for the military use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment

The use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment on military platforms is expected to significantly increase as Secretary of Defense Perry's acquisition reform initiative continues to be implemented. Recent COTS installations on military platforms have demonstrated both the expected performance and time-to-develop improvements as well as some unexpected problems due to electromagnetic environmental effects (E/sup 3/) emission or susceptibility problems. Rapid response electromagnetic interference (EMI) reduction teams have been able to successfully apply traditional DoD E3 installation and design techniques to restore (some of) the system performance. These lessons learned experiences have shown that program managers can neither ignore E/sup 3/ requirements nor simply specify existing commercial EMI requirements. In order 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 from occurring on future military platforms.