Fergie's Tech Blog

Air Force One Guidance Systems Allegedly Sent to Russia

Jason Ryan writes for ABC News:

State Department investigators found that a subsidiary of a major defense contractor provided portions of the computer source code of Air Force One to a company in Russia in 1998, according to a little-noticed consent agreement reached earlier this month.

The documents, filed by the State Department, noted that the alleged violation by a subsidiary of defense contractor Northrop Grumman "resulted in harm to the U.S. national security."

Specifically, the source code involved the inertial navigation software systems that are unique to the presidential aircraft.

The violations were allegedly committed by Litton Industries, which Northrop Grumman bought in 2001. Northrop has agreed to pay a $15 million fine for 110 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

posted by Fergie @ 4/19/2008 12:03:00 AM