U.S. Investigating Firm Building Component for B-1

A Los Angeles area company under contract to produce a key sensor for the braking system on the new B-1 bomber is under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office, Justice Department sources here said Wednesday.

The probe, described as still in its preliminary stages, led to a raid last month on the headquarters of AMEX Systems Inc. in Hawthorne and the seizure of large amounts of internal documents, the sources said.

The sources, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not identified, disclosed the investigation’s existence Wednesday, when queried about separate allegations advanced by Edward F. Wilson, a computer software quality-assurance engineer, who was fired by AMEX last July.

It could not be immediately determined whether the probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles involves questions of proper quality-control testing of the B-1 brake sensors, which help a pilot activate and apply the plane’s brakes.

Small Company

AMEX is a small company that was acquired in 1984 by the Allied-Signal Corp.’s Bendix Aerospace Sector.

In Morris Township, N.J., Allied-Signal spokesman M.J. Ascolese said the Air Force had requested information from the company regarding AMEX’s subcontract on the B-1.

“The information was regarding the scope of the contract,” Ascolese said.

He declined to say whether the investigation was also looking at the quality of workmanship.

The B-1’s primary builder is Pittsburgh-based Rockwell International. In El Segundo, Calif., where Rockwell’s Aerospace Division is headquartered, spokesman Mike Matthews said officials were not aware of any investigation involving Rockwell.

The value of AMEX’s subcontract is about $2.5 million.

Wilson has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that he was harassed and then fired after he began complaining that plans he drafted for quality-control checks on computer programs were ignored by the company and federal contract agents were misled about the status of such testing.

Computer Programs

Wilson maintains that AMEX, in developing the computer programs, has failed to activate an ongoing quality-assurance program to ensure that all bugs are worked out or to even assign employees to the task.

AMEX referred calls on the matter Wednesday to Allied-Signal. The company has denied Wilson’s charges in a response to his “wrongful termination” suit.