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To no one in particular:

I’m the sales manager for a company that makes passive electronic devices for military/aerospace applications. I’m not new at this, I’ve been at it since 1986 so not an expert but I know a few things.

One way or another every component down to the smallest washer used in military aircraft are qualified to the applicable MIL SPEC by the prime (or sub) contractor. In my industry, that is currently MIL-PRF 27, years ago it was MIL-T-27.

My company makes a part that is used in the ejection seat F-15/F-16/F-18, we, at the customers expense, qualified this device which was notable for the fact that it had a custom heat sink that would allow it to fit a very tight space in the cockpit. Our design is then locked in we cannot make any changes without customer (in this case Boeing) approval.

Anyway, when the government buys spare parts (The DLA which stands for Defense Logistics Center) they specify the approved manufacturer on the RFQ however if another manufacturer wants to be allowed to supply the part they can submit a sample and the DLA will decide to include them in the RFQ process.

This part was designed by my company to meet a customer print, in this a case McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) SCD (Source Control Drawing).

We go ahead and quote a spares order for say 3 pcs but lose the order to another supplier that is not on the SCD. The other supplier is offering the part for less than what we have to pay for the above mentioned heat sink keeping in mind that this is not just a heat sink it is a complex multi winding transformer on a spec toroid (the core) with 14 secondary center taps and a bifilar wound primary.

I sent a letter to the DLA protesting the award to no avail. You might say that my company is sour grapes but keep in mind that this device is very specific and controls the ejection seat in a multi-million dollar fighter aircraft. Also keep in mind that the DLA will buy from the new company to save money, Boeing will not do that until the new company qualifies the part and is included on the SCD. No manufacturer in their right mind would spend $25,000.00 to qualify this thing so that they could make and sell a handful of these units per year. Back in the day we made hundreds of this transformer, the DLA spares buys are 5 or less a year.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess what the DLA is putting in these aircraft. It is also not just this one application it is across the board on all kinds of defense programs.

I know from experience that when something like this happens, an accident that results in death and/or loss of millions of dollars in property, a wide scale investigation into every thing related, the components, service records, test data also military procedures. Not saying the Airforce will take responsibility but I will say they will find out exactly what caused this accident. If any suppliers of any parts are anywhere near the root cause of this accident, woe to them. I personally live by the creed it is not worth $100 profit to cut corners on anything we supply to the military.