US panel had found C-130J aircraft with ‘suspect counterfeit’ parts

30-03-14

Staff Reporter
Within a couple of days of the crash of C-130J Super Hercules aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) near Gwalior, acquired recently from the United States, theories are doing rounds if it had ‘suspect counterfeit’ parts manufactured in China. The origin of these theories lies in a report of the Committee on Armed Services of the United States Senate dating back to May 2012.
In an ‘Inquiry into Counterfeit Electronic Parts in the Department of Defense Supply Chain’ report dating back to May 21, 2012, the US Senate Committee on Armed Services had observed that the ‘suspect counterfeit’ memory chip in C-130J could result in ‘degraded visual imagery on the display, blank screen/loss of display’ and ‘loss of data’. Considering this shocking observation, it might be possible that the C-130J aircraft acquired by the IAF from the US also had ‘suspect counterfeit’ parts manufactured in Shenzhen, China.
The C-130J Super Hercules aircraft of the IAF that crashed on March 28 was on a ‘flying training mission’, and it is believed that it was on a low tactical flight. During the low tactical flight, it is very necessary to have a good visual imagery on display and proper data. However, if one considers the specific observations made in the report of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, there is scope to speculate if the IAF C-130J also had the counterfeit Chinese parts leading to the crash that claimed the lives of five brave air warriors of the IAF.
In its report, the US Senate Committee on Armed Services had observed that the ‘parts from the suspect lot’ were installed in more than 500 display units in November 2010 itself. Besides, ‘approximately 84,000 suspect counterfeit electronic parts’ had entered the US Department of Defense supply chain and many of these were installed in aircraft. As per the Committee report, which is available online on http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/library?c=all, ‘suspect counterfeit’ parts originated with a company Hong Dark Electronic Trade Company. This company sold the parts at issue to Global IC Trading Group, which sold the parts to L-3 Communications Display Systems.
The C-130J and C-27J are military cargo planes equipped with display units that provide the pilot with ‘information on the health of the airplane, including engine status, fuel use, location, and warning messages.’ The display units in these two aircraft were manufactured by L-3 Display Systems, a division L-3 Communications. For C-130J, L-3 Display Systems manufactured the display units for Lockheed Martin. In November 2010, L-3 Display Systems learned that a memory chip used in display units was ‘suspect counterfeit’. “By that time, however, the company had already installed parts from the suspect lot in more than 500 display units, including in units intended for the C-27J, the Air Force’s C-130J, and C-17 aircraft, and CH-46, a helicopter used by the Marine Corps,” observes the report.
In addition to the suspect memory chips, L-3 Communications purchased approximately 84,000 suspect counterfeit electronic parts supplied by China-based Hong Dark Electronic Trade Company. The US Senate Committee report records clear observations about ‘Decision by Lockheed Martin to take ‘No Action’ on the suspect counterfeit parts in the C-130J’. Lockheed Martin’s engineers reviewed spreadsheets identifying each failure of a display unit from October 2010 to March 2011 and these spreadsheets included short descriptions of failure like ‘failed in flight, no display’.
In the end, the US Senate Committee on Armed Services concluded, “China is the dominant sources country for counterfeit electronic parts that are infiltrating the defense supply chain.” More importantly, it recorded the observation, “The use of counterfeit electronic parts in defense systems can compromise performance and reliability, risk national security, and endanger the safety of military personnel.” This observation holds significance for India in the course of investigations into the crash of the recently acquired C-130J Super Hercules aircraft as ‘some flaw’ has claimed lives of five air warriors of the IAF. 

IAF rules out counterfeit Chinese 

parts in C130J delivered to India 

Responding to media reports, Indian Air Force (IAF) ruled out counterfeit parts in C130J Super Hercules with India.

“After the report, we had contacted the US manufacturer for a status position and were told that if any faults were found in the systems, they would be replaced. However, we insisted that information be shared with us if any systems on our six aircraft had Chinese components,” said an IAF official. Following India's insistence that a list of all equipment with suspect parts be shared, the US manufacturer checked its inventory and came up with a list, matching systems on board the Indian aircraft with serial numbers of parts that contained suspected counterfeit Chinese components.

After getting the list, India insisted that all suspect systems be checked and replaced if counterfeit components were found. “Among all parts sent till now, no fake ones have been found,” the official said. The last batch of the systems, however, is still in the US and is likely to be returned shortly after checks. According to IAF officials, the cause of the crash could not be linked to counterfeit parts in the display system as they were not critical to flight safety and had multiple redundancies built in. “A detailed investigation will go to the root of the reasons leading up to the crash but there is no question about technical health of the aircraft. The aircraft was not faulty and all systems on board were functioning,” added the official.