For most production networks, this file sits quietly on flash, loaded once during a major lifecycle upgrade—and if all goes well, you will never need to interact with the rommon > prompt it helps protect.
The asr1000-rommon.173-1r.spa.pkg updates the code. It does not update the FPGA bitstreams on the SIP (Shared Port Adapter) or ESP cards. Those are usually handled by other .pkg or .bin files found in the main IOS-XE bundle. asr1000-rommon.173-1r.spa.pkg
If you have the .pkg file on your bootflash and need to force an upgrade (for example, during a disaster recovery where the ROMMON is corrupted), you would typically use the upgrade rom-monitor command in privileged exec mode, pointing to the specific package file. For most production networks, this file sits quietly
If your compliance requires NIST SP 800-124 (firmware integrity), 173-1r meets the baseline. Those are usually handled by other