11.02.11
Made in China: Counterfeiting bites military
Unsurprising, really. If they counterfeit US premium guitars, why not chips for old warplanes like the F-15?
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
An investigation by Channel 2’s Jim Strickland revealed fake chips have been discovered at a Georgia military base and at a Roswell military supplier.
Technicians repairing an F-15 flight computer at Robins Air Force Base in 2008 said they discovered that four replacement microchips were fake just in time.
“Our job is to ensure that those who want to counterfeit parts, that we don’t allow them into the supply chain. It’s a battle every day,” said base commander Maj. Gen. Robert McMahon.
McMahon is battling back-alley operations like ones in Shenzhen, China. Video of laborers there revealed an operation in which workers peel chips off old circuit boards, Strickland reported. Some are reconditioned and relabeled as military grade …
“Anyone who has legacy-type products is forced to go into the independent world of electronics distribution, and that world can be a scary place,” said Dan Ellsworth, CEO of World Micro in Roswell. His company is a global components dealer. Ellsworth infiltrated the Shenzhen facility himself.
Hate to be a-told-you-so.
Chuck said,
November 2, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Old story, really. The electronics industry has been fighting Chinese counterfeits for years. Even low-value passives, such as capacitors are counterfeited.
If you want to place an order for a obsolete chip to repair your military gear, you’ll often get chips that, internally, bear no semblance to what their labeling says.
If you think you’re safe by buying from the big distributors, you’re still prey. Counterfeits enter the first level supply stream in a number of ways. One of the more common is in the form of excess stock returns.
And some suppliers deliberately sell counterfeits to the military:
http://www.circuitsassembly.com/cms/news/11828-first-convicted-felon-of-counterfeit-ic-trafficking-sentenced
Just google “counterfeit IC’ and have fun…
But it isn’t just electronics. Counterfeit nuts and bolts bearing phony markings have cost lives. And it’s been going on for at least 20 years.