At least one million parts used in U.S. military aircraft, vehicles and other hardware were produced by overseas counterfeiters in China and other countries.

 

A 14-month investigation by a U.S. Senate committee found Chinese companies were the biggest culprits behind the counterfeiting. In one case alone, Hong Dark Electronic Trade Co., a firm based in Shenzhen, China sold 84,000 suspect components used by the U.S. Air Force on planes and helicopters.

 

The report by the Senate Armed Services Committee criticized China for allowing the problem to continue. “Rather than acknowledging the problem and moving aggressively to shut down counterfeiters, the Chinese government has tried to avoid scrutiny, including denying visas to committee staff to travel to mainland China as part of the investigation,” according to the report.

 

The committee’s chairman, Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), told CNN “this flood of counterfeit parts, overwhelmingly from China, threatens national security, the safety of our troops and American jobs.”

 

Among the compromised systems were computers installed on missile interceptors produced by Lockheed Martin, GPS-guided Excalibur artillery shells manufactured by Raytheon, Army Stryker Mobile Guns made by General Dynamics, Global Hawk drones from Northrop Grumman and L-3’s Air Force C-27J Spartan transport aircraft used in Afghanistan.

 

Levin’s staffers uncovered 1,800 cases of counterfeiting involving one million parts. Of 100 cases the committee delved into, 70% of the suspect parts originated from Chinese companies.

 

Counterfeit parts also were traced back to businesses in the United Kingdom and Canada.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

China Top Source of Counterfeit U.S. Military Electronics (by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News)

Probe Finds 'Flood' of Fake Military Parts from China in U.S. Equipment (by Larry Shaughnessy, CNN)