US probe into fake aircraft parts casts shadow on India deals

[sudhir007]

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US probe into fake aircraft parts casts shadow on India deals - Indian Express

US investigation that found suspect counterfeit electronic parts in military aircraft will have repercussions for India with two programmes that the Air Force contracted coming under the scanner. A year-long investigation by the US Senate has pointed to suspected bogus parts — amounting to over a million — in C 130 J transport aircraft as well as the test aircraft of the P 8 Poseiden series of maritime surveillance planes.

Both these aircraft have been contracted by India in the past few years under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) pact with the US. The Air Force already has six C 130 Js in service and eight P 8 maritime aircraft are likely to be inducted starting next year.

While the report does not reveal which particular planes have been found to have suspect parts, the investigation has pointed to irregularities in over 1,800 cases. This amounts to over a million suspect parts. More worryingly, most of the suspected electronic parts — ranging from chips in the display systems of the C 130 Js to components in the ice detection system of the P 8 — have originated from China.

The Senate investigation also found that at least one per cent of the suspect parts originated from India. “The investigation’s findings point to China as the dominant source of counterfeit electronic parts and the Committee concluded that the Chinese government has failed to take steps to stop counterfeiting operations that are carried out openly in that country,” the report notes.

The report has underlined that deficiencies in the supply chain of manufacturers led to the suspect parts finding their way on combat aircraft and that this can put the lives of personnel manning the systems to risk. In one particular case that was investigated, a Shenzehn-based company supplied 84,000 suspect parts to manufacturers that were fitted on to aircraft.

While in most cases, the suspect parts do not put the aircraft directly into danger, they affect critical systems that can make the difference between life and death during combat. In the C 130 J aircraft for example, the report points to suspect parts in the display system manufactured by L 3 Display Systems. These display units indicate the health of the aircraft — from engine status and location to fuel use and missile warning alerts.

In the P 8 aircraft that are being procured for maritime surveillance as well as anti-submarine and anti-ship operations, suspected bogus parts were found in the ice-detection system. This system is critical as formation of excessive ice on control surfaces can lead to the loss of an aircraft.

It is still not clear whether the detailed findings of the committee have been shared with the IAF yet. The investigation was started by the Senate Armed Services Committee in March last year. Other than the systems that India operates, suspect parts were also found on Special Operations Force A/MH-6M choppers, the C 5 transport aircraft and THAAD missile defence systems.

[Rajaraja Chola]

How does such fake parts come into military projects?
Every parts are contracted to sub contractors and its their duty to supply the parts..
So how come such conterfeiting parts come from nowhere?
Does it mean, the contracting companies are involved in buying such parts ?

[Abingdonboy]

US seems to have a problem with this sub-contracting and then failure of quality control. Similar incident involving 15+ USN ships and subs involvong sub-standard steel happened a few years back costing billions of dollars of equipment to sit idle for months and millions in repairs.

[Nitin Goyal]

Pakistan should also take the notice.

[danger007]

simply neva trust chinese products.......

[AbhimanyuShrivastav]

I am sure if this probe is expanded by PAF, they will certainly find some inputs for the recent spate of crashes PAF is seeing even in relatively new platforms like F 7 and JF 17

[DANGER-ZONE]

Pakistan should also take the notice.

Why ??
Indo-US good military relations are just on starting mate. Deal with it, Nicely !

BTW US has been facing economic crises, So their contracting Companies. They would have compensated a few $ with Fake parts. Or US Govt would had deducted their commissions

While the report does not reveal which particular planes have been found to have suspect parts, the investigation has pointed to irregularities in over 1,800 cases. This amounts to over a million suspect parts. More worryingly, most of the suspected electronic parts — ranging from chips in the display systems of the C 130 Js to components in the ice detection system of the P 8 — have originated from China.

Wow That's gona leave a Mark .. Its like Indian avionics have been injected with poison.
Indian Pilot: "AVIONICS, MADE IN CHINA. WHAT A SHAME ! I AM FLYING THE DAMN THING"

[PERSIAN GOD KING]

You got to love china.

[Windjammer]

I am sure if this probe is expanded by PAF, they will certainly find some inputs for the recent spate of crashes PAF is seeing even in relatively new platforms like F 7 and JF 17

New Platform....F-7 ???....that's news to me, as for JF-17, ever heard of a bird strike. !!
If anything, the two IAF Mirage-2000s falling out of sky should be your cause of concern.

[bindaas]

Chinese stuffs, cheap and fragile.

[PERSIAN GOD KING]

Chinese stuffs, cheap and fragile.

Maybe their deliberately make them cheap just for countries like USA.
this is great, it shows China is raping the us and they can't do anything about it.
such a sad new that americans cannot even produce their entire militry by themselves...
they spend a trillion dollar a year, yet their electronics are fake

maybe that is why Iran downed the RQ-170 so easily.

[AbhimanyuShrivastav]

New Platform....F-7 ???....that's news to me, as for JF-17, ever heard of a bird strike. !!
If anything, the two IAF Mirage-2000s falling out of sky should be your cause of concern.

I may be mistaken but some of the F7's were as recent as 2001-2002.. Or was it some other plane..?

[Nitin Goyal]

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the thing about chinese stuffs are that they are cheap and unreliable.... ofcourse , cheap is not a bad word in business.