[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

[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...

[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.