Northrop Late With MX Parts, Air Force Says
Northrop has consistently failed to meet delivery dates on a key part of the MX missile guidance system and has been behind schedule since early last year, according to Air Force officials.
As a result, the Air Force on Feb. 27 suspended all contract payments to Northrop for its work on the guidance system, amounting to about $25 million a month, officials at the Air Force Contract Management Division said Friday. So far, the Air Force has cumulatively withheld $40 million in payments to Northrop, which is based in Los Angeles.
Northrop was supposed to have delivered 52 inertial measuring units by March 1 but actually delivered only 31, according to a spokesman at the Air Force’s Ballistic Missile Office in San Bernardino.
The units--called IMUs--are basketball-sized devices that guide each MX missile in flight.
An Air Force letter addressed to Northrop officials “was worded in the strongest of terms that Northrop had not made sufficient improvement in the deliveries since last year,” an Air Force spokeswoman said Friday.
The continuation of Northrop’s problems and the Air Force’s reaction are in sharp contrast with an assessment made only last October by the commander of the Ballistic Missile Office, who said in an interview that Northrop had overcome its worst problems and appeared to be catching up with its deliveries.
Air Force officials still say that the Northrop units that have been delivered have met contractual requirements for reliability, but congressional sources and industry sources dispute those statements.
An internal memo at Pittsburgh-based Rockwell International, another contractor working on aspects of the MX, indicates that there have been significant failures of the inertial measuring units at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, where 10 MX missiles were put on alert status in December.
14 IMUs Failed as of Feb. 3
The memo, which was obtained by The Times, indicates that 14 IMUs had failed as of Feb. 3, a little more than a month after they had gone on alert status. That means that at least 14 IMUs failed in only 10 missiles during that period.
“Rejection was for failure at IMU turn on,” the memo says regarding the 14th failure, meaning that the IMU was defective right out of its shipping crate. “This fault has become the dominant failure mode.”
The Rockwell memo also states, “There are no spares available to replace it,” which means that at least the one missile had to be taken off alert status. The Air Force has declined requests for information on the number of times MX missiles have been taken off alert status at Warren.
The Air Force awarded Rockwell a contract last July to become a second supplier of IMUs for the MX. The move was made after Northrop encountered significant problems with the project, Air Force officials said. A Rockwell spokesman said Friday that the company has cut 12 months from its 45-month program to qualify as a second supplier of IMUs, which will undoubtedly put additional pressure on Northrop.
Rep. Nicholas Mavroules (D-Mass.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said recently that only four of 20 defective IMUs have been repaired by Northrop.
A Northrop spokesman said he could not respond to reports about IMU failures and said the Northrop units are meeting or exceeding reliability requirements under the Air Force contract.
The spokesman blamed the delays on problems with certain suppliers. He confirmed that one particular problem identified by Air Force officials involved a flexible wire harness for the IMU.
“It is tough out there,” he said. “We are working to get more vendors onto the program. The parts we are looking for are very specialized.”
Northrop has also assigned Group Vice President David N. Ferguson, a corporate officer, to responsibility for the MX program. That move apparently follows sharp Air Force criticism of a prior manager on the system, an Air Force official said.
Takeover of Civil Suit
Meanwhile, Justice Department officials are considering whether to take over a civil suit brought against Northrop under the False Claims Act by former engineer Brian Hiatt, who sued the company last year, saying it had defrauded the government in the MX guidance program.
Herbert Hafif, Hiatt’s attorney, said Friday that he had met recently with a senior official of the Justice Department. The meeting included new disclosures by a source for whom Hafif is seeking federal immunity. Hiatt, who lives in Cerritos, was granted immunity last year.
“It would surprise me very much if the Justice Department did not take over the case,” Hafif said, referring to a provision in the False Claims Act that enables the government to take over as plaintiff in such civil cases alleging fraud against the government.
