DEFENSE

Teledyne Pays $17.5-Million Fine: Teledyne Industries paid a $17.5-million criminal fine for falsifying tests on electronic switches, a fine U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers called the largest ever imposed for defense fraud. Teledyne pleaded guilty to 35 counts of preparing and submitting false statements on tests of relays from its Teledyne relays division in Hawthorne. The parts are used in a wide range of advanced weapons and spacecraft, including the space shuttle. The Los Angeles-based company remains a defendant in a federal lawsuit over the falsified tests, a suit seen as a gauge of how far the government will go in a case that could gravely wound a big military contractor. The False Claims Act suit seeks about $1 billion from Teledyne.