At Indium's Quickstart seminar at Motorola, Plantation, Fl (February 8, 9, 2005) Ed asked: We make electronics that go on ships that are used by the military.
- Are we exempt from RoHS?
- If we do make the switch, will the government accept products that are lead free, when many of their other suppliers may keep their SnPb solders for now?
Dr. Ron answers:
- Military hardware is exempt from RoHS. However, be aware that "dual use" (i.e. military and civilian) hardware will not be exempt in the civilian applications.
- Whether or not the government will accept lead-free assembly will be something suppliers will have to discuss on a case by case basis with government procurement. Since government (military) applications are usually very high reliability applications, I expect they will want much reliability test data before making the switch.
All the best,
Dr. Ron