It might be that bad, but at the same time, context is also everything. Diminished manufacturing sources are a big thing for Government platforms because we stretch out legacy items over decades, and there isn't the same "pressure" to modernize them that you have in the commercial sector.

For instance, we have been flying the B-52 since the 50's. A lot of the manufacturers who made parts for it either went out of business, or just stopped making those parts altogether and moved on to something else, or the "widget" that they manufactured for our fleet has changed configurations six ways from Sunday from the time it was originally produced. So, 10 or 20 years down the road, when certain subparts start needing updates or refreshes, we might have to find something old that can fit into the configuration, or spend $$$$$$$$$$$ to redo everything.

That is kind of an extreme example, but looking at the floppy disk setup, if you have a software integration system that is not modular, or reconfigurable when it's built, and it's not in critical need of reconfiguration, you pretty much just roll with it, because the cost of reconfiguring and reproducing that design is prohibitive. Now, when it comes to ATC, I don't really know the whole situation, or how critical it is to move on from the floppy disk setup, but I'd be curious to know the whole situation.

Across the entire government acquisition setup, we are trying to aim toward being more modular, so that we can adapt to commercial plug and play much better and start streamlining these issues. It also helps us to naturally access competitively priced end items vs the sole source hell we keep finding ourselves in. Problem is...our sole source industry doesn't like that idea and they lobby like hell against it, and they seem to keep getting their way. For instance, a lot of our major weapon systems will have one sole source prime contractor and then a myriad of sole source subcontractors each providing their own end item (radar, mission computers, electronic warfare suites, etc.). Hopefully the more systems we develop, the more we can graduate from that, but it will take time and gumption. Until then, we get screwed on pricing as a matter of pure leverage.