http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2014/03/03/darpa-to-take-on-counterfeit-goods/ The 'outsourcing' mania is just getting ridiculous. These contractors don't pass along any savings to taxpayers in the first place, so they shouldn't be getting away with this sort of scam, especially outsourcing to a government like Red China. Hello! Does anybody remember who these people are???
Instead of building our (*)(*)(*)(*) with american made and verified parts we import the electionics our warfighters rely upon from China. Instead of solving the problem the correct way which may hurt record profitable defense contractors, we will waste billions in research to protect the complex. the F.A.R. is so convoluted its impossible to get into government contracting without having a legal department and hiring a few consultants. The system is so rigged against the government and tax payer right now that when an employee works overtime the contracor will bill the government for his/her overtime but will keep the money as pure profit because salaried employee's dont get OT pay. contractors in iraq and afganistan built useless buildings, and even thrown away perfectly good equipment to invoice for more. All privatizing defense has done is shift the cost from one accounting account to another and create a system of instituional waste, corruption, and conflict.
The problem is not as much with components, as it is with sub-components. For a perfect example, look at these capacitors that came from China. Or these resistors: Or the following integrated circuits and transistors: This is what the real problem is. This slip into the supply channel in many different ways, and are almost impossible to detect until they fail. I have seen them myself, 2 or 3 fake parts on an IC circuit card which fails. And it is generally not the end-component maker's fault. They order the parts they need to make a card or part for the military, and somewhere upstream of them the fake parts enter the stream and get used. Many are even labeled as "US Made".
