Looks like we may be getting some of our industry back, I hope. I've read science fiction that I rejected with this kind of scenario.

Fake chips threaten military

Unbelievable.

 

This is incompetent on so many levels if true.
How hard is it to buy a few spares or keep track of when something is going obsolete?

• Because the microprocessors it needed for its F-15 warplanes' flight-control computer were no longer made by the chips' original manufacturer, the military obtained them from a broker, only to discover they were counterfeit, according to the GAO's study in March. Air Force technicians spotted the bad chips before they were installed on the planes' computers.

 

"The counterfeit chips failed during testing" and weren't put on any equipment, said depot spokesman _____________.

There is just something about that recurring theme that makes me wonder and nervous. The military command structure was dumb enough to buy and pay for that junk, but smart enough to test thoroughly every single piece before use. That has the makings of another famous oxymoron.

John

 

Its funny. I'm very pro-military. I understand and support the concept of mil spec. Hollywood would like to show these guys as idiots, when in reality they are generally much smarter than average. I have to wonder too, if there is something much deeper going on here.

 

This is a classic British mess up. Basically we ordered these 8 helicopters but couldn't guarantee their airworthyness because they had been badly specified. Then they sat in a shed for about 10 years before someone decided to rip out all the wiring and instrumentation and replace them.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmpubacc/247/9780215526663.pdf

 

it's a sad era for semiconductors.

 

There is just something about that recurring theme that makes me wonder and nervous. The military command structure was dumb enough to buy and pay for that junk, but smart enough to test thoroughly every single piece before use.

You have two entirely different mindsets at work ... those that write the procurement contracts and those that have to use the procured materials. There are avenues for the latter to use to improve the former ... if they are serious enough to challenge. The form used was a ROID ... this is no $hit. Report of Item Discrepancy.

Damm ... I managed to use ROID and $hit in one line. LOL....

 

I saw that but can you actually say its surprising anymore? Their finding counterfit tooth paste at wallgreens in New Jersey, and other products at major chains in the US. The world is getting cheaper and cheaper by the minute. At least these guys got caught. I just sold a laptop to a Centcom worker today and we were bsing how much money these so called contractors rip off from the gov all the time. He told me one story where they paid a firm 5 million dollars to basically take and open source CRM system and tailor it to their needs.

 

He told me one story where they paid a firm 5 million dollars to basically take and open source CRM system and tailor it to their needs.

Did he relay how many times they re-wrote the code to satisfy "new" minor requirements? I was relayed a story by a former officer who was working on a small project that would have been completed in less than a month but was incomplete after a year because of the OS the government was using (BTOS/CTOS) vice DOS.

Yes, I think there are ripoffs and yes there are new requirements imposed all the time. It's not uncommon to have a punch sheet (discrepancies noted by the government that the government has agreed to fix using government resources) on new projects. Those don't happen in the software world as much as the hardware and construction world.

The government projects that come in on time and on budget don't make the news.

I'm sure there's "more to the story" than basically take an OPEN SOURCE CRM and tailor it. The Open Source isn't driving the cost.

Future government contracts are online. Anyone can bid on them if they meet the requirements.