What does "ACQUISITION SPECIFICATION" mean?

[zlong]

Military Standard MS25036 lists only dimension requirements on terminal. It also mentions "Acquisition specification MIL-T-7928", which has criteria on performance, like tensile strength.

What does "Acquisition Specification" mean?

If a vendor claims that its terminals meet MS25036, does this mean the terminals meet MIL-T-7928 also?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Assume nothing, verify everything. Multiple spec and standard callouts are not unheard of.

 

[zeusfaber]

You need to read the callout in MS25036 very carefully.

If it says that in order to comply with MS25036, products must all meet the Acquisition Spec, then the answer to your question is "yes - provided that the vendor is telling the truth"

If all it says is that the reader should be aware of the existence of an Acquisition Spec, the the answer is "no, it doesn't mean that - although there's no guarantee that they won't meet both specs."

What's the difference between the two types of spec?

The standard is there to make sure that whichever brand of kit we each get bought, both will have key features defined in such a way that when they are brought together in service, yours kit will work with mine.

The Acquisition Spec is something the IPT/Purchasing Activity will issue as part of its contract. This attempts to define all the characteristics the product is required to posess if it is to be acceptable off contract and goes way beyond the simple requirements of interoperability.

In everyday acquisition, I would normally expect to see Acquisition Specs calling up Standards, rather than the other way round.

A.

 

[IRstuff]

The standard simply specifies the dimensionality of the connectors. The specification is what governs the electrical, mechanical, and functional characteristics

TTFN

FAQ731-376