Posted on 01/16/2007 9:06:20 PM PST by MrCFdovnh
WASHINGTON: Fighter jet parts and other sensitive U.S. military gear seized from front companies for Iran and brokers for China have been traced in criminal cases to a surprising source: the U.S. Defense Department.
In one case, federal investigators said, contraband bought at auction from Defense surplus stocks was delivered to Iran, which President George W. Bush had in his "axis of evil" grouping. Just Tuesday, the State Department branded Iran as the world's worst exporter of terror
In the Iran case, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say those parts made it to Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
"Military Intelligence"
comes to mind here...
Where the hell did the Pentagon think this hardware would end up? Disneyland? WTF?
Instead of scratching my head over this, I'm pulling my hair out.
One thing that pisses me off is that there are “Surplus” Chinook helicopter engine parts in a Pentagon sale.
Did the Pentagon replace the Chinook? Are they obsolete?
Or maybe just maybe will the Pentagon buy the same parts next year and pay 10 times as much as they realized from the sale of these parts that ended up in Iran?
I wonder.
Did the Pentagon replace the Chinook? Are they obsolete?
I think the Pentagon is having many of its Chinooks remanufactured by Boeing. Lots of systems like the engines get replaced. Perhaps the parts were from discarded engines?
...but they seem to be a good importer of surplus U.S. military hardware...viola! No trade imbalance...
Maybe capitilism is it's own worst enemy?
The Chicoms are scratching their heads...just 10 years ago, they donated heavily to the Clinton campaign coffers...they could have saved a bundle just waiting for the "Pentagon Clearance Sale!"...
This could be a scoop. Or it could be the Pentagon deliberately selling defective gear to Iran and China. We did something like that to sabotage the Soviets during the Cold War.
There are sales held throughout the country by DLA -- you can visit the warehouse buildings where they sell before the auction and see a lot of items that have been declared surplus.
If they are selling spare parts it is because they are obsolete. A lot of items are sold for scrap so the vendor will haul them a way. Boxes and boxes of what I consider junk line the warehouse where they keep the items prior to auction.
You have to go through a process to get 'junk' surplused. Not going to find useable spare parts surplused in the Air Force. I would bet the same holds true for the other services. For years it took almost an act of Congress to get obsolete typewriters and old computers declared surplus.
Would bet the vendor who sold these parts is going to be in big trouble because they sold to people on the list of countries that we do not trade with.
Have a heavy piece of metal in the garage that was surplused off the M-X missile because it was obsolete. My husband worked on the M-X missile when it was going operational and one of his friends bought him a part very cheap for memories. Been shipped around with moves ever since.
IMO they are getting junk! I will see if I can get you a link so you can view what is going up for auction.
http://www.drms.dla.mil/
Paging Oliver North, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Wouldn't it be great if WHEN we strike Iran, all their equipment fails due to a "bad batch" of parts?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
What the AP Didn't Tell You
The AP has published a long, investigative piece on flaws in the Defense Department's system for selling surplus hardware and components. According to the wire service, these flaws have resulted in the sale of forbidden equipment to middlemen representing nations like Iran and China. In some cases, U.S. customs inspectors intervened and blocked the shipments. But in one instance, banned items actually made their way to Iran, through a Pakistani middleman.
Obviously, the sale of sensitive military components to potential foes is a cause for concern. But there's a lot the AP doesn't report in its story, or simply buries inside the article. For example, those illegal items that wound up in Iran? Parts for a Chinook transport helicopter, built more than 30 years ago. Not exactly state-of-the-art technology. And, the illegal transfer won't tip the balance of power in the Middle East--it will just allow some aging choppers to fly a little bit longer, carry a few more troops, or transport more cargo.
The AP also expresses concern that Iran might obtain parts for its fleet of U.S.-built, F-14 Tomcat fighters. Our Navy recently retired the 70s-era fighter, meaning that thousands of Tomcat components are now up for resale by the government. According to AP reporter Sharon Theimer, F-14 components have almost been sold--twice--to Iranian middlemen, and Tehran's efforts to acquire those parts are expected to intensify.
But once again, the AP dodges the obvious question: what would Iran gain (in terms of military capabilities) from limited numbers of F-14 parts? Not very much. Recent estimates indicate that no more than 6-8 of Iran's 60 original Tomcats are still flyable, and many of those lack functioning radars and other sub-systems needed for combat. Refurbishing Iran's F-14s would probably take our entire stock of surplus Tomcat components, and even then, it's doubtful that Tehran could achieve a satisfactory mission-capability rate (say, 80% of their jets flyable on a daily basis). The effects of time have also eroded Iran's ability to fix their F-14s, particularly at the depot level, where more complex overhauls are conducted. Without skilled mechanics, parts are largely worthless.
The same holds true for flying skills, and there has been a similar erosion in the tactical proficiency of Iran's F-14 crews over the past decade. As the cadre of U.S.-taught pilots and RIOs retired (or were purged), they were replaced by less-skilled crewmen, trained in country. The ability of these crews to prosecute a successful intercept against a U.S. or Israeli adversary is marginal, at best.
And, as far as the actual technology, there's not much the Chinese or Iranians could glean from F-14 components that they don't already know. After the Iranian Revolution, there were reports of a Tomcat (and Phoenix long-range air-to-air missile) making its way to the former Soviet Union, where it became the foundation for the MiG-31 Foxhound, equipped with the Flashdance radar and the AA-9 AAM. If the Iranians were trying to steal AMRAAM parts (or the black boxes for a more advanced radar), I'd be more concerned.
Clearly, we need to tighten our export and resale procedures for military surplus. But is this the crisis the AP makes it out to be? Hardly.
And one more thing: could someone tell me if the Associated Press was similarly outraged when the Clinton Administration approved the sale of satellite and ballistic missile technology to China in the mid-1990s? That little deal, engineered by Hughes and Loral, helped the PRC gain MIRV technology for its ICBMs. Now that was a scandal. And, more importantly, the next generation of Chinese road-mobile ballistic missiles--which benefitted from that transfer--are a far greater threat to our national security that a few Chinooks and F-14s in Iran.
# posted by Spook86 http://formerspook.blogspot.com/
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
They are probably lots of systems being retrofit. The Chinook has been around for quite a while.
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/model_comparison/comparison.html
If they are getting their military gear from Pentagon surplus sales, then they are pretty desperate.
"And, the illegal transfer won't tip the balance of power in the Middle East--it will just allow some aging choppers to fly a little bit longer, carry a few more troops, or transport more cargo."
So if it only results in the deaths of a 'few' of our brave sons & daughters, it's no big deal?
Stop the nonsense!
And the morons pushing the military to clear out "obsolete" parts give people awards for "saving" $200K if that engine was ORIGINALLY priced at $200K.
Lots of "funny money" i.e., "let's pretend were a business" budgets that cause this kind of idiocy.
There may be lessons to be learned from business but those who stridently call for us to rule our military like a business are brain dead.
(1) The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines will be open for business Christmas Day all 24 hours.
(2) WalMart won't pick up and move to another country overnight.
(3) The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines don't want repeat business. In fact they're there to kill you as quick as possible.
Defective or not, The Chicoms are more likely just buying it to study and reverse engineer it. It would be stupid to spend $10 M on a engine for one helicopter that will be the next generation one when you can only have one and once that one goes away, then they are screwed
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