Reverse engineering needed to create parts for the B-2 stealth bomber.

quote:

While it’s hard to say exactly why this approach is being taken now, it indicates that the original plans for these components are unavailable or the manufacturing processes and tooling used to produce them no longer exists. This could be the result of them having been so secretive that, at some point, they were inadvertently destroyed altogether. They could also have been simply misplaced, or the parts may have been produced by a smaller contractor that has long since disappeared, taking the bespoke tooling with it.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-w...source=pocket-newtab

It's not quite reverse engineering the original components. What the RFP (request for proposals) is seeking is a method of dismantling the internal portion of existing heat exchangers and fabricating and installing replacements. The original details of the heat exchangers may already exist, but it appears that no method to repair rather than replace the entire assembly exists.

The larger question is why it seems to be desirable or economical to repair them rather than replace the entire component.

Spare parts often become unavailable for older equipment because the parts no longer are required in sufficient volume to justify their continued manufacture. At one time, I worked for a large electrical manufacturer that maintained a special workshop simply to manufacture low volume, infrequently replaced components of large apparatus where the special tooling, machining, and fabrication costs were justified by the expense of otherwise replacing the major apparatus.

It's become an increasingly difficult problem in the age of micro-electronics where there is no practical way to fabricate obsolete chips. In these cases, the only alternatives are to replace entire devices with something current that performs the same or a similar function or salvaging parts from other devices that are no longer in service.

Big Al