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Military gear used to have to comply with MIL-SPECS. I'm familiar with most of them for shipboard electricity and electronics and for some of them used by deployed troops for ground gear. The MIL SPECS cover things like potential to ground, which on most MIL SPECS is less than .05ma to ground. The problem is that in 1992 thru 1996, Clintonista's had the system of compliance to MIL-SPECS dropped from defense procurement procedures in favor of COTS (commercial off the shelf) or to EN Directives (Euro-Norms), both less costly and easily complied with.

It's situations like getting hard drives to operate in a shock and vibration environment on an Apache Attack Helicopter, or keeping the toilets from becoming missiles when a torpedo transfers it's energy into the deck of a ship.

It's the difference between a $50 coffee pot or a $500 coffee pot made to special MIL SPEC requirements. The $50 one puts enough broadband and narrow band noise into a missile guidance circuit that the missile couldn't keep on signal. It will also leak line to line and line to ground potential direct to the steel table it's sitting on.

"It's the difference between a $50 coffee pot or a $500 coffee pot made to special MIL SPEC requirements. The $50 one puts enough broadband and narrow band noise into a missile guidance circuit that the missile couldn't keep on signal."

That sounds like the emissions from contacts closing/opening. A solid state relay would eliminate that and still not bring the price to $500.

"It will also leak line to line and line to ground potential direct to the steel table it's sitting on."

Only the line's potential could be coupled to the table and that would be capacitively coupled. Any magnetic coupling would be small and just result in tiny eddy currents.

The Sherman tank was designed by different branches of the Army. The gun was done by the Artillery Corps, which had a regulation that all barrels would last thousands of rounds. So, no high velocity for the Sherman, which would of knocked the barrel life down to 500 rounds high velocity. Not that in tank to tank combat a tank crew would ever live to fire 500 rounds. Mil Spec.

It took the Army's bureaucracy 6 years to wrap it's head around Stoners revolutionary M-16. Mil Spec.

In the early 80’s we'd go off base to buy our own Aimpoint sights, which had been out for five years. The Army preferred in low light, darkness we shoot off matte black iron sights. I think it took the Army almost 15 years to get Aimpoint like sights to common soldiers. Delta and SF had them off the shelf. Mil Spec.

The South Africans and Rhodesians had mine resistant vehicles 30-40 years ago. Even with the experience of Vietnam mines, and a hundred dirty wars around the world, the Army couldn't get the troops resistant vehicles, and the ones now are huge monsters. Mil Spec.

A good commercial coffee maker is near $200. It's been my observation that in the Army anyways, they are ten years , at least, behind the commercial market in quality and perfomance.

It's the difference between a $50 coffee pot or a $500 coffee pot made to special MIL SPEC requirements.

I think the bigger cost for coffee pots is dealing with rapid decompression (as in don't explode).

In any case, commercial airborne coffee makers are as expensive as the military ones.