As an authorised distributor for our franchise partners, Active Electronics gives design engineers a direct, audited route to the latest technologies — backed by hands-on field engineering support that goes well beyond simply supplying a part number.
Whether you’re specifying a new design, evaluating alternatives across our manufacturing partners’ ranges, or trying to cross-reference a component that’s gone obsolete, our design support team is there to help you get it right the first time.
Aerospace and defence programmes are built to last decades — often far longer than the electronic components that go into them. As commercial part lifecycles shrink, obsolescence has become one of the biggest risks to programme availability, and one of the most common reasons projects turn to the grey market, where counterfeit risk is highest. Active Electronics helps customers stay ahead of that curve, keeping long-life systems supplied with genuine, traceable parts long after original production has ended.
Military and civil aerospace platforms are frequently supported for 20, 30, even 40 years, yet the semiconductor and electronic component market moves on a commercial cycle measured in months. Manufacturers issue end-of-life notices, distributors’ stock dries up, and buyers are left needing parts that no longer officially exist. At the same time, lead times across the industry have lengthened and component availability has tightened, increasing the pressure to source from unauthorised or unverified channels — exactly where counterfeit and non-conforming parts enter the supply chain.
For OEMs like Thales and BAE Systems, who run regular audits and work from approved supplier lists, this isn’t a side issue — it’s a core procurement risk that has to be actively managed for the lifetime of every platform.
As a secure supply chain partner to defence, aerospace and other high-reliability programmes, Active Electronics builds obsolescence management into the sourcing process rather than treating it as an emergency response.
Obsolescence management is most critical wherever components need to remain available for the working life of a platform: Aerospace, Defence, Maritime, High Rail and Space. In these sectors, a single unavailable part can hold up a build, a repair, or a delivery milestone — and liquidated damages for late delivery on government contracts mean that availability now often outweighs unit price as a buying criterion. Our current on-time delivery performance — around 96% across all customers, and 98.5–99% with Thales — reflects how central obsolescence and supply continuity planning is to what we do.
If a bill of materials includes parts nearing end-of-life, or a design has stalled because a component is no longer in production, our sourcing and engineering teams can help you find a route through — genuine stock, an approved alternative, or a managed last-time-buy. Talk to us early in the lifecycle, and we can help you avoid the problem altogether.