There are numerous reasons that governments around the globe and all branches of the military are choosing COTS over military specification equipment, including:
- The reliability of commercial grade components and subsystems has improved, eliminating the justification for expensive military specification equipment.
- Military agencies can implement more flexible, high performance systems at a lower unit cost.
- Agencies can take advantage of current commercial approaches and practices; this commonality simplifies the development and deployment of applications, which enables a more rapid incorporation of new capabilities.
- Economies of scale make it feasible to use centralized depots in balance with critical on-site spares.
- The higher the proportion of COTS equipment in a system, the easier and less expensive it becomes to modify or enhance the system, supporting more rapid technology refresh and greater adaptability to change.
- COTS purchases dramatically reduce operations and support costs for military systems because suppliers are able to spread development costs over a number of market sectors.
