Posted on 01/06/2014 1:09:06 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The U.S. government has waived laws banning Chinese components being fitted in their Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)-built F-35 fighter jets in order to keep the $392 billion program on track during 2012 and 2013, according to a report released by Reuters on Friday.
According to the report, Pentagon documents showed that chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall had allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrup Grumman (NYSE:NOC) and Honeywell International (NYSE:HON) to use landing gears, magnets and other hardware supplied from China. Had the waivers not been issued, both companies would have violated federal law and the program could have been delayed.
Concerned U.S. lawmakers noted in separate documents that American manufacturers do make similar magnets, but according to the acquired Reuters report, it would have cost $10.8 million and 25,000 man-hours to have removed the $2-a-piece, Chinese-made magnets and replace them with the alternative American-made ones.
The Government Accountability Office is leading an investigation into the issue after U.S. lawmakers objected that American companies were being shut out of the specialty metals market, and that a U.S. military jet was being produced by a potential enemy.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
It must be at least 10 years since I read about DOD officials explaining that in the modern world they really didn’t have any way of knowing who was producing our “secret” technology.
Savage was hammering on it today - said the congressmen or others who approved this should be hung.
Maybe that’s the reason for the legislation doing away with the death penalty for treason.
Wow. Crony Capitalism hits a new high level mark.
Thanks heavens for the Smoot-Hawley protectionion legislation of 1930 or we would have lost WW II by exporting our factories to Japan, Germany and China. We could use another today.
“It must be at least 10 years since I read about DOD officials explaining that in the modern world they really didn’t have any way of knowing who was producing our “secret” technology.”
Not so. I’ve been in this game my entire career. If a sub is producing something you send your QA people there to assure that they’re following the rules. Your QA verifies that they’re complying with the contract which will clearly state where they can get materials and sub components. If something sensitive is being produced in China this is a clear violation of ITAR (International trafficking in Arms Regulations.) Heads need to roll!
It’s all about the “supply chain”, i.e. replacing American jobs with cheaper foreign labor ... even for highly sensitive military hardware.
OK so I’m a liar.
“OK so I’m a liar.”
I’m not calling you a liar. You may very well have read that. It might even be true. But if it is the FBI should be all over it. ITAR is taken VERY seriously. Everybody with a government contract has to train every employee in ITAR once a year. Each employee has to pass an ITAR test and it’s comprehensive. An example was given recently where a major contractor sent sensitive drawings to a sub and he came back with a quote. They asked how he thought he could do it so cheaply and he said he’d had his Chinese company do the quote and the labor was dirt cheap. Turns out he’d forwarded these very sensitive drawings directly to China. That was a major breach. It could easily have been a go-directly-to-jail breach. (They didn’t say what happened to the hapless idiot who sent the drawings out.) You can’t even send drawings via ordinary internet. Instead there are things called “drop boxes.” You give your sub access after they pass the ITAR testing.
Agree. Of course it’s got to be on the US Munitions List to be restricted, and lots of people who don’t understand the law will confuse instances of bribery that are prosecuted unt FPCA and such for export law violations. Having seen the grief and cost a former employer had to endure for an extremely minor ITAR violation (alleged violation) involving a 40-year old technology, I’m convinced there are bureaucrats who take this issue seriously regardless of who occupies the WH. And if violations occurred, there should be full punishment.
Indeed. The catch of free trade with China is that ONLY trade with China after they bully Taiwan, Korea and Japan in submission. No more alternativenor global interdependency so called. This stuff was another fraud promise based on paper tiger.
ITAR is very strict and for strategic parts such as landing gear there would have had to have been a waiver
The Free Traitors would call you a Communist for saying the we should use government power to make sure our secret defense technology is made in America instead of Communist China.
A Chinese sourced part would not be allowed on any project I’ve ever worked on. But it’s possible the supplier lied or disguised its source, or didn’t know the source.
The worst breaches were those arranged by Bernie Schwartz of Loral who was the most frequent visitor to the White House under Clinton. He is why the Chinese have missile technology that works. All of this for a few free space launches for his aborted satellite phone company. (Oh, and a few generous dollars to the Clintons.)
Lincoln said, “No foreign enemy, by force of arms, could ever take a drink from the Ohio river without the complicity of American traitors.” (That would be Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama.)
Ironic. The 'free trade' deals are government to government agreements made in the backrooms outside of Legislature involvement.
The saying in Silicon Valley is “Half the Chinese here are spying on us. The other half are spying on them!”
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