Why We Modernize Our Military’s Assets

In this article, I reference Joint STARS as an example to detail why we modernize our military’s assets. To learn about some of the roles and responsibilities I had as an engineer supporting the JSTARS mod programs, check out my career at NGC article here.

To address why we focus on modernizing our military’s assets, let’s work through an example. Many of our military’s assets were developed decades ago. The Joint STARS aircraft is an Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft that has been in service since the late ‘80s. The change in technology from the late ‘80s to now cannot be described as anything less than incredible. Aside from the exponential increases in performance of every kind of electromechanical system, the general trend in the design of electronics over time is to decrease the SWAP (size, weight, and power). Over time, electronics are becoming more powerful in terms of capabilities, but are also becoming physically smaller, lighter weight, and less power hungry. Rather than the military redesigning their aircraft every few years, the electronics/avionics industries mostly take on the burden of making many of the design changes to their equipment. The military then has the ability to upgrade their aircraft with the latest and greatest technology every few years, while still flying the same plane. This is an effective way to stay relevant, in a timely manner, and within a reasonable budget. 

Not only have the technologies changed dramatically, but so have the companies making the technologies. Many of the avionics companies that originally outfitted the jet, are either no longer developing the units they originally produced, are not producing the replacement parts for the units, or the companies are no longer in business. In the industry, this situation is called DMSMS, or Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages. The other situation that is often encountered in the industry with regards to how technology integrates with aircraft is obsolescence. DMSMS and obsolescence are terms that are often used interchangeably; however, many of the systems that are DMSMS, are not obsolete, and the obsolete equipment are not always DMSMS. One implies limited supplies (DMSMS), while the other (obsolescence) usually implies functionality no longer applicable to a specific system due to changes in requirements or design. 

The age of the aircraft, the amount of original technology on it, the need to replace original technology due to DMSMS or obsolescence, and the overall demand to have up to date, high processing, decreased SWAP, and low cost equipment, are all issues that drive the need to modernize the aircraft. This effort is performed to provide increased capabilities to Joint STARS and its crew. The end goal is to provide the Air Force with the capabilities to accomplish their missions, with as much functionality, ease, and safety as possible. 

The effort to sustain a military airframe over time is a tremendous undertaking. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are dedicated to keeping the Joint STARS fleet up to date, and in shape to meet the demands of our nation’s security. Depending on the level of difficulty of a mod program, or complexity of the equipment being installed on the aircraft, some programs can take years to see through, while others only take a few months. Nonetheless, programs big and small require manpower and money to see to fruition. 

Now, imagine starting from the ground up, with no plane, and only a limited set of customer requirements. Applying similar logic from the above paragraph to the development of a brand new platform, the period of performance could be in the multi decade range to see the design of an aircraft through production. The manpower to support this ground up effort could be in the tens of thousands, all resulting in billions of taxpayer dollars spent.

Although there are many reasons why we modernize our military’s assets versus developing brand new ones, the list can primarily be narrowed down to one thing: money. Money is the problem and solution to all things engineering and business related. Ultimately, at times, it is more cost effective to allocate resources to modernizing a system, rather than designing a brand new one from the ground up.