Report No Aid for Iraqi Bomb, Honeywell Says

Honeywell Inc. acknowledged Friday that it violated its own internal regulations in selling a report on fuel-air explosives to a Swiss firm, but the giant defense company denied that the transaction contributed to Iraq’s development of the powerful bomb.

Announcing the results of an internal investigation ordered after The Times reported that Iraq had obtained a 300-page Honeywell technical report on fuel-air explosives, the firm said it could find no evidence that it had provided military technology to the Iraqi government.

Honeywell, which has its headquarters in Minneapolis, said the report was sold to Institute for Advanced Technology (IAFT), a Swiss company, in violation of the firm’s own restrictions on export of weapons technology.

According to information obtained by The Times last December, IAFT was acting on behalf of Iraq and Egypt. Honeywell said Friday that it believed the government of Egypt was the Swiss company’s only client.

According to an internal investigation conducted by the law firm of Covington & Burling, Honeywell sold several studies on fuel-air explosives to IAFT in 1984 and possibly early 1985.

However, Honeywell’s investigative report said the documents “contained no information or analysis not readily available to any qualified engineer, without access to classified information, and was so elementary that it could not have made any material contribution to the Iraqi (fuel-air explosives) capability.”