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Counterfeit military parts goal of contractor warrant

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By DENNIS JOYCE and ELAINE SILVESTRINI

djoyce@tampatrib.com esilvestrini@tampatrib.com

Published: July 18, 2009

TAMPA - Federal investigators who raided a St. Petersburg defense contractor are looking into products designed to help air crews survive an emergency ejection, according to a search warrant obtained today by the Tribune.

Six Pentagon and immigration agencies are investigating Conax Florida Corp., a company that has operated locally for three decades and employs 220 people.

Search warrant documents, obtained from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, detail property to be seized from Conax.

They focus on three products. Two are known as UWARS and SEAWARS, acronyms for water-activated parachute release systems. These systems constitute the main product line at Conax, a division of British defense contractor Cobham PLC, according to Cobham's 2002 annual report.

The third product, MA-16, is described as a reel device allowing an aircraft pilot to connect to a parachute while sitting in an ejection seat and to release from the parachute upon landing, according to a 2005 contract document from the federal Office of Management and Budget.

Specifically, the property to be seized includes "MA-16s that contain or appear to contain broken teeth, sheared teeth and bent shafts" as well as SEAWARS and UWARS devices containing "counterfeit/nonconforming" resistors and switches.

In recent years, counterfeit parts have been found in military aircraft and even NASA spacecraft. Spare parts are expensive, giving contractors an incentive to cheat, Hans Weber, a San Diego-based consultant, told the Tribune this week.

Contacted Friday in Virginia, Cobham spokesman Greg Caires said the company is prevented by international treaties from talking about the Conax products.

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