PHOENIX, Ariz. Spirit Electronics announces its selection as an Outstanding Small Business for Lockheed Martin’s Space division for 2022. 

Spirit Electronics, a value-added microelectronics distributor, today announced the achievement of DLA Commercial Lab Suitability for MIL-STD-883. Spirit’s qualified test methods include external visual inspection, temperature cycling, HAST (biased and unbiased), stabilization bake and scanning acoustic microscopy.

Military suppliers, being essential businesses, weathered the pandemic and economic shutdowns admirably thanks to strong defense funding. Yet even this stalwart industry is feeling the ill effects of the global chip shortage and the consequences of its reliance on offshore semiconductor manufacturing. The U.S. government is committed to returning chip production to the States, but whether that move will be enough and in time to save the industry is yet to be determined.

By Marti McCurdy

The challenge of microelectronics counterfeit prevention is to detect fake OEM parts, but what if the part is an actual OEM’s part and yet still counterfeit? Not only is it possible, it’s common. The most counterfeited product in the global microelectronics market is not always a fake. Very often it is a true OEM original but has been altered and is not suitable for the full requirements of system performance and use in a critical military system.