US Submarines MIL SPECS

[sreid]

Can anyone provide a starting point for MIL SPECs related to Electronics used on a US Nuclear Submarine. Temperature, shake rattle and roll, EMI, Electrical Suceptabilty, etc.

 

[IRstuff]

Have you looked at:

MIL-S-901D
MIL-STD-461
NIL-STS-464
MIL-STD-810
MIL-STD-1399-XXX


TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[sreid]

IRstuff,

Thanks, I work in commercial-industry and military-aerospace is a foreign land to me. But one application I'm consulting on may have a Military customer.

 

[IRstuff]

If it's an existing submarine, then there should already be existing requirements for it, and they should all specify the environmental conditions.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[sreid]

IRstuff,

You are absolutely correct. The product was in the process of being designed for commercial applications when the Sub application came along [ a currently used critical product is going obsolete]. The company I'm consulting to is going balls out with the design and my sense is that they don't fully appreciate Military Requirements [young engineers]. I've told them if they include these requirements from the start it will save them time and effort later on but I wanted to hammer it home by providing MIL SPECS. But I haven't worked on a Military Design since the nineteen sixties.

 

[IRstuff]

OK, barring any other documentation, the list I gave previously should cover the majority of the environment. Depending on the criticality of the system in question to the operation and survival of the sub, MIL-S-901D might be the biggest hurdle, since we're generally talking about shocks in the hundreds of g's.

Otherwise, a submarine environment is relatively benign, i.e., controlled temperatures, no sand/dust, no solar, no rain, etc.

Best of luck...

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[sreid]

The company I'm consulting to now says that this application is COTS. I can't say what the application is [NDA] but I would consider it "Mission Critical" [it's not, say, a crew entertainment system]. Is there any document that defines what's COTS and what's not?

 

[IRstuff]

Possibly, but I can't recall, offhand. Typically, COTS means something that's sold, as-is, to the commercial marketplace, without modification. Modified COTS might be a non-developmental item (NDI), if it's modified for its application or environment.

If it's mission-critical, then it would normally need to be modified, or cocooned, to survived any required environment. A typical approach is to install the item on wire rope isolators with lots of sway space, which might get you past the 901 shock requirement. Your Navy customer may be able to help you with that.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[sreid]

Since I am working on a limited part of this project, the customer tells me What-I-Need-To Know. Since this unit is to replace an item that's going obsolete I assume that it will be a form, fit and function replacement. And the fact that the original unit was COTS doesn't mean that it didn't have to be qualified for the intended application and environment. And I'll bet that the orginal unit was KOTS [Kind of Off The Shelf].

Since this is an electronics unit, the original unit was probably "Rafted" for acoustic noise transmission and shake, rattle and roll victomization.