May 22, 2012 - A very disturbing report from Military.com today: "More than a million Chinese counterfeit electronic parts are estimated to be in use in U.S. military aircraft, according to a U.S. Senate report released Monday saying the discovery jeopardizes safety and national security."Why the hell are these vital parts not being made here in the U.S. - or, at the very least, by any country other than China, which to this day remains a sworn enemy of ours?
"The Senate Armed Services Committee said its year-long investigation launched by Democratic chairman Carl Levin and ranking Republican John McCain uncovered 1,800 cases of bogus parts, including on the U.S. Air Force's largest cargo plane, special operations helicopters and Navy surveillance planes." (Note: The investigation is actually now 14 months old.)
The report, ironically, is a story from Agence France-Presse (AFP). It's good to know the French media are on top of this story. However, it's somewhat (though not very) reassuring to know that Congress has been "investigating" this problem for a while now.
What is perhaps most frightening is that the "military routinely keeps mum on fake parts," in a story by Bloomberg as reported by Gulf News. "The US Air Force suspended in January a Shenzhen, China-based company from supplying parts to US contractors," reports Gulf News, "after it sold about 84,000 suspect components, many of them installed on US aircraft, according to an example cited in the US Senate Armed Services Committee report released yesterday."
AFP reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee investigation, started by Democrat Carl Levin and Republican John McCain, "uncovered 1,800 cases of bogus parts, including on the U.S. Air Force's largest cargo plane, special operations helicopters and Navy surveillance planes." Full story (by AFP) at Military.com...
The Defense Department does not seem capable of dealing with this very serious problem. The committee's report says Defense "lacks knowledge of the scope and impact of counterfeit parts on critical defense systems." The report also cites the problem of obtaining important military parts from unvetted independent distributors, which increases national security risks.
NOTE: The AFP report, which is eerily similar to a Nov. 2011 report by The Washington Post, ends with "This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed," and was part of the report that was published, rewritten and redistributed by Military.com. What an odd thing for a news service to say, when their entire purpose is to have their material published, broadcast, rewritten and redistributed. It's how they make money, non? Editor's Note: I am laughing my butt off. Merci beaucoup, AFP.
Related:
- US weapons 'full of fake Chinese parts' Telegraph UK
- Pitfalls of counterfeit-part epidemic ElectronicsFeed.com
