Hamby Corp. Targeted in U.S. Defense Fraud Probe : Santa Clarita: Small subcontractor faces accusations of providing faulty cables for the Peacekeeper missile and false test documentation.

The government’s ongoing probe into defense fraud has spread to Hamby Corp., a small subcontractor in Santa Clarita.

Hamby makes cables for the multiple-warhead MX intercontinental ballistic missile, or Peacekeeper, which is capable of traveling long distances to wreak massive destruction. The cables Hamby makes are intended to carry electrical impulses to help guide the missiles to their targets.

But four Peacekeeper missiles currently on alert contain cables made by Hamby that might be defective, according to an agent of the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations.

Hamby is the subject of a federal investigation into allegations that the company defrauded the government by engaging in a scheme to provide cables for the missiles that did not meet specifications, and submitting false test results for the cables.

Executives at Hamby could not be reached for comment. But Laurence Lubka, an attorney for Hamby, denied the allegations, and said company officials are “very much angered at this. A lot of people are working on some very bad information here.”

Lubka said Hamby’s subcontract was worth only about $20,000. The company, with about 100 employees, is a subcontractor to defense giants Rockwell International Corp. and Northrop Corp., which have contracts valued at $181 million to provide guidance systems for the Peacekeeper missiles.

Earlier this month, Hamby’s offices were raided by about 20 federal agents who seized documents and equipment as evidence.

“I believe that from 1989 to the present, Hamby and Hamby employees have engaged in a scheme of providing nonconforming cables to Rockwell, Northrop” and other contractors for the Peacekeeper, Air Force special agent G. Edward Kopfle said in an affidavit requesting the search.

Based on information received from Rockwell and Northrop, the affidavit states, TRW Corp., the Air Force’s technical adviser on the Peacekeeper program, reviewed alleged problems with the Hamby cables. After its review, TRW recommended that Hamby’s cables “be considered as defective material with significant reliability implications.”

But Lubka contended there were several inaccuracies in the affidavit. For example, he said, the document states that Rockwell had found in February that the cables failed electrical continuity testing and that holes at the ends of the cables were not properly plated with tin and lead. The plating allows electrical impulses and signals to be carried through the cables.

But Lubka said the cables provided by Hamby were made according to specifications--with no tin-lead plating.

“Tin-lead does not have to be in this cable. Then they say we did it wrong,” he said.

The affidavit also states that Rockwell reported to the Air Force in May that other Hamby cables failed certain tests and had deficient tin-lead plating and that the copper wires that conduct electricity did not have proper “etchback”--a method of enclosing a cable in plastic and adhesive while leaving a tiny bit of copper wire exposed at the end. Rockwell also found no physical evidence that electrical tests had been performed on the cables, it states.

Rockwell spokeswoman Christine Rodriguez acknowledged that “we’ve been providing information and assistance to the government regarding” Hamby, but declined to discuss the allegations.

The affidavit also states that Northrop reported to the Air Force that 27 of 38 cables it had purchased from Hamby in 1990 did not have proper etchback and that the tin-lead plating was too thin.

But Ron Owens, a Northrop spokesman, said: “We have had no reported problems with the flex cables bought from Hamby.” He declined to comment on the allegations contained in the affidavit.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles Kreindler said he did not know how long the Hamby investigation would take. He said he was not aware of any previous allegations involving Hamby and declined to speculate on any possible actions that might result from the current investigation.