What's wrong with "Off The Shelf"?
The phrase OTS comes up in debates here about all sorts of equipment, very often applied in a derogatory manner. This has always puzzled me. It wouldn't occur to most of us to purchase anything other than OTS; the only person I know who had a car built to spec (a TVR Tuscan) it was a complete disaster and sat immobile under a thick layer of dust for several years. The OTS airliners I've flown for the last twenty something years have all worked fine. The only instance of an "off-piste" spec, for an unusual toilet fit, caused years of problems. Surely there's huge opportunity for big savings. Why is OTS a swear-word in military aviation?