Navy Suspends Defense Firm

The Navy said Monday it has suspended a Baldwin Park defense contractor from doing business with it, saying the company supplied untested circuit boards for tactical missiles.

The boards, made by Asher Engineering Corp., went into such weapons as the Navy’s Phoenix long-range air-to-air missile, the Harpoon anti-ship missile, the Tomahawk cruise missile, the Sidewinder heat-seeking missile and an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile, the statement said.

The firm made printed wiring boards that were put into arming switches made by another defense contractor, Micronics International of Brea.

The arming device, roughly comparable to the safety on a gun, is built into the missile’s fuse to prevent premature firing.