Department of Defence budget cuts, sequestration and new cost saving methods have changed the purchasing mind set as it relates to military spending, giving many electronics manufacturers cause for concern.
For years, defence consumers continued to find themselves locked into custom design solutions manufactured by a single source, only to find that the item in question is now obsolete.
Today however, this environment has changed dramatically, with new emphasis being placed on open standards, in an effort to drive competition and lower unit pricing. In fact, to many, the word COTS (Commercial Off-The Shelf) has been deemed a bad word.
Omnetics Connector Corporation on the other hand, has taken advantage of this opportunity to bolster its own COTS and Standards offerings.
In the years following 11 September 2001, defence spending peaked to a level we likely will never see again, and while the electronics and weaponry infrastructure still needs to be maintained and continually upgraded, newer and smarter design methods are taking place in an effort to modernise our current and past defence related products.
Upgrades such as form, fit and function are constantly being reviewed and implemented within a number of legacy programmes from aircrafts to UAV’s, all in an effort to leverage newer technology such as micro-miniature and nano-miniature connectors.
This has proven to be an attractive approach for OEM’s worldwide, as smaller sized components such as connectors have allowed designers the ability to scale back previous designs and focus on making new units smaller and lighter in an effort to extend flight times and overall product performance.
As Omnetics Chief of Engineering, Andrew Strange states, "Omnetics Commercial-Off-The-Shelf programme offers the same high-quality precision componentry found in our custom products as well as the products that have passed the QPL testing requirements, allowing Omnetics to be listed on both the MILDTL- 32139 and MIL-DTL-83513 programmes.
"When standard products fit our customer’s applications, it can save time and money but if there is a need to make modifications, Omnetics has streamlined the process and can generally offer custom solutions faster and with less expense than our competition."
Omnetics COTS and standards programme consists of a number of Microminiature and Nano-miniature connector options. From board level interconnects to battlefield tested I/O solutions, Omnetics manufactures mission critical connectors that can deliver in any environment.
Omnetics Connector manufactures all of it’s connectors in the US (Minneapolis, MN) and is an ideal partner for primes in search of a single point of contact as it relates to interconnect design solutions in both standard and non-standard variations.