You can “sprinkle” cupcakes and other baked goods without any relative harm. But overseas counterfeiters “sprinkling” counterfeit weapons and other electronic parts on the U.S. military supplies could endanger the lives of troops.
By way of mixing authentic electronic parts with fake ones, suspicious manufacturers, mainly from China, have caused extreme concern to U.S. military safety. Foreign components are installed in missile systems, helicopters and aircrafts.
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, an examination of the implications of the fake electronic goods concluded that the Pentagon was at serious risk.
“The failure of a single electronic part can leave a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine vulnerable at the worst possible time,” said Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the committee.
The AP said company executives, a Defense Department official, government investigator and a representative from the semiconductor industry testified before the committee about a “ticking time bomb” of suspect counterfeit electronics ending up in weapons system.
Representatives from China were missing during the lengthy hearing and declined to testify, according to the AP.
“Fake imports from any country are not acceptable to U.S. consumers,” said Kathleen Senft, a senior Communications major. “But in this case, where American soldier’s lives are in danger, and it’s hurting our own economy, [it] is a complete outrage,” said Senft.
According to the AP, the committee’s ongoing investigation found about 1,800 cases of suspect counterfeit electronics being sold to the Pentagon. By industry estimates, counterfeiting costs $7.5 billion a year in lost revenue and about 11,000 U.S. jobs.
The website said the Defense Department has a quality assurance process to determine whether parts are authentic and is taking steps to detect counterfeit parts, including training more than 2,000 personnel in identifying fake material.
The Pentagon also said there has been “no loss of life or catastrophic mission failure due to counterfeit parts,” according to the AP
Junior geography major Anthony Towle said he felt confident the U.S. government could work through this problem as long as they stay diligent.
“I’m sure it’s not easy detecting fake parts,” said Towle. “Now that we know this is a problem, the government should be more prepared to identify the counterfeit ones and dispose of them as soon as possible.”
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