Military Facing Obsolescence Issues by RoHS

"The defense industry thought it was off the hook when the RoHS directive was released. The military was exempt from compliance, which meant engineers would not have to struggle with tin whiskers – those tiny metal hairs that form easily on pure tin and can break off and short out a component. The exemption also meant the military would not have to defy the directive outright as leaders had threatened. With RoHS, however, those commercial parts are going green. The military won’t buy the green versions of the commercial parts for fear of tin whiskers. And while many of the commercial parts suppliers insist they will continue to produce leaded parts for the military market, those parts will be produced for a significantly smaller market and will likely rise in price if they continue to be available at all." Source: DesignNews.com