Air Force Probes How Parts Ended Up On eBay

Macon (GA) Telegraph | June 6, 2002 | Mike George

[Stand Watch Listen]

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE - Air Force officials are investigating a shipment of high-tech aircraft parts intended for Robins Air Force Base that ended up on eBay, an online auction site.

Norb Novocin, an antiques dealer from Jacksonville, Fla., bought the parts for $244. Shipped from Dover Air Force Base in 1989, the sofa-sized crate of parts was bound for Robins, but never made it. May 4, the crate was auctioned by A&A Transfer, a moving company, as unclaimed freight.

Novocin, who searches for antiques at public auctions, saw something valuable in the crate.

"I looked at one of the parts and realized it was expensive to build," Novocin said. "On a hunch, I decided to buy all the parts I could."

Acting on his intuition, Novocin bought several of the parts in the crate. Novocin said several invoices still were attached to the parts and many had prices written on the invoice.

"I picked up one piece and it was clearly marked $9,500," Novocin said.

Wondering what the parts were, Novocin contacted several sources at Robins AFB. He said Wednesday that people he talked to on the base helped him determine what the parts were used for, but were unwilling to buy them.

"Actually, the people at Robins were extremely friendly. I got the impression they were just old parts that they really didn't want," Novocin said.

He also said he told his contacts at the base that the parts were bound for Robins.

"I pretty much let them know about the invoices in every conversation I had," Novocin said.

Novocin found that the parts were used in the communication systems of several of the Air Force's premier aircraft, including the SR-71 strategic reconnaissance plane, F-16 fighter and the C-5 cargo plane. Several of the parts were coded "D," which he was told meant they were to be destroyed and not sold to public buyers.

After Novocin was unable to find a buyer on the base, he decided to auction the parts on eBay. Novocin auctioned the parts on eBay from May 22 to May 29. Eighteen of the parts were available to bidders for seven days on the online auction site, but only four of the parts were sold.

Novocin contacted the base again, letting them know that the parts were being auctioned online. Base officials then contacted the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which opened an investigation Monday. Three of the parts were won by bidders in the United States, while one went to a bidder in Italy. One of the parts, listed at a value of over $600 by the Department of Defense, sold for $32.24. Air Force officials contacted Novocin last Friday and told him to keep the parts until the situation was resolved.

"I was literally on my way to the post office to send the parts when they called me," Novocin said. "They told me to keep the parts until they could come pick them up."

Officials at A&A Transfer declined to comment Wednesday, saying they knew nothing about the missing parts.

Maj. Michael Richmond, a representative from the OSI, is investigating the situation, but said he feels that it's too early to say what exactly happened.

"We are taking a look at everything we can. We are still trying to figure out who said what when, and who did what to whom," Richmond said.

Richmond said it was unclear how the components could be used if they fell into the wrong hands.

"It depends on what the parts are and what they do, " Richmond said.

Novocin hopes to be reimbursed for his expenses, but will leave that decision to the Air Force.

"I'm cooperating with the government in any way I can," Novocin said. "I want to see that the parts are where they should be."

[aomagrat]

Parts is parts.

[Wright is right!]

"Richmond said it was unclear how the components could be used if they fell into the wrong hands."

Then let me make it CLEAR. If these parts fell into "the wrong hands," the components would STILL be UNUSEABLE UNLESS those same "wrong hands" ALSO had SR-71's or F-15's in perfect flying order EXCEPT these parts. It's like selling an engine-control module for a 1983 Lamborghini. If you HAVE a 1983 Lamborghini, then the module MIGHT be of benny to you, but ONLY if the sole reason your 'Ghini isn't running is the lack of an ECM.

These parts would be of no value, other than curiosity/conversation value, to anyone who didn't already possess the aircraft they go into...and lack only these parts. You can't take these parts, for example, and put 'em in an F-14 and soup IT up.

This is a big furor over nothing, IMHO.

Michael

[drjimmy]

One of the parts, listed at a value of over $600 by the Department of Defense, sold for $32.24.
Looks like the buyer got a good deal on a C-5 cargo plane toilet seat.

[Thud]

rolling on the floor ping!

[Restin Payce]

I disagree. Every military and every country of any size at all, has what are called re-engineering laboratories. Engineers in the labs of the most persistant military forces are intelligent and cunning. They take apart and analyze some of the most innocuous looking devices one might imagine. They keep an extensive database and through these efforts some very valuable electronic devices have been compromised. Nothing is overlooked. If you knew that a certain chemical substance could be very easily added to the fuel of an SR-71....one that would errode a seal that would then cause a failure, you would then be in a position to compromise a mission. It is not a good idea to have any kind of parts floating around that may contain any electronic, mechanical or chemical clue about current military useages.

[LarryLied]

The sad part is we've had aircraft sitting on runaways with full crews away from home for a week because, at times, there are no spare parts. Engineers come out to rebuild the old ones.

[Paul Ross]

You meant F-16.

While your thesis in general is okay, so far as it goes, there are serious security breach implications here. How about if an entire communications system, with encryption technology, was in that crate and similarly coded 'D'? Things are coded 'D' for a reason presumably.

There is a potential for serious military/industrial technology blow-back and we could be showing bad guys how we worked around an engineering problem. E.g., the Chinese. Or maybe they could find a a weakness in our systems that could be exploited. This would be particularly true in radar tracking, high-resolution aerial cameras, IFF, and ECM packages. So if you happen to see any of that selling on E-Bay maybe you would want to alert the DOD...

[Wolfie]

Only $244? They oughtta put ol' Norb in charge of purchasing for the whole military.

[Dark Wing]

This is not a new problem. The Military property disposal system is a threat to national security.

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT had a long article on thos five years ago on how a collector purchased a fully operational AH-1 Cobra via property disposal spare parts and a Chinese 'scrap dealer' obtaining a obsolete F-117 electromechanical gyroscope.

A small business contractor at Kelly AFB was charged and tried for a fraud involving diverting new parts to the property disposal program and their purchase at a cut rate price for installation into USAF cargo planes.

They managed to get off due to errors on the part of the Federal prosecutor.

[Jhoffa_]

I just want to beat my head on the desk when I read stuff like this.

Look, I hate to be blunt but your average Burger King probably has better control of their inventory and certainly has better control of their cash than our Government seems to have over it's (our) assets.

And they don't even have machine guns..

Think about that.

[Jhoffa_]

I remember them saying the collector used the machine guns to shoot at coyotes..

(LOL! I swear!)