The cost of COTS

Fairchild Defense, a division of Orbital Sciences Corporation, has been a p ioneer in the use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware, software, an d tools in military equipment. Fairchild has developed a cost and schedule effective approach to the use of COTS elements. This paper discusses Fairch ild's experience with the use of COTS in military equipment and special con siderations imposed because of the military environment.