DOD Seeks To Block Iran From Securing Parts For F-14 Fleet

Stay alert, Tom Cruise. Iran has an eye on your "Top Gun" jet, as law enforcement experts say the country is aggressively seeking parts for its Tomcats, according to the Associated Press.

The Defense Department disclosed Thursday that not only had it taken off the surplus auction market parts from F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, but its January action also included parts from other planes and support equipment that could be used in connection with Tomcats.

The Tomcat, of course, is the jet made famous by the infamous Tom Cruise in the 1986 movie "Top Gun."

The Pentagon's retired F-14's 76,000 components in January; many of them had been functional on other planes and had been sold on the surplus market. This new revelation reports that the suspension actually included 163,000 components - including those that support other aircraft, but could be used in connection with the Tomcats.

"You're talking about things like the nuts and bolts ... to military-unique and -specific things, to ground equipment, to igniters and engine parts," said Dawn Dearden, spokeswoman for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

"We want to make sure that we're doing the prudent thing here, we want to make sure that we hold onto everything that could be used on the F-14."

The Pentagon surplus security review will likely be completed this year, Dearden said.

As ANN had reported, Senator Wyden called for a permanent ban on the sale of leftover F-14 Tomcat parts over concerns those supplies could fall into the wrong hands.

As a US ally in the 1970s, Iran received US permission to buy the fighter jets; it is now the only country known struggling to keep its F-14s airworthy. The US retired its own Tomcats last year.

The Pentagon review comes as legislation that would permanently ban the sale of surplus F-14 parts moves through Congress.

The bill was first proposed by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)in January after The Associated Press reported that middlemen for such countries as Iran and China had taken advantage of Pentagon surplus sale security weaknesses to acquire sensitive military equipment, including missile components and parts for Tomcats and other aircraft.

Law enforcement officials are aware of at least one case in which a surplus purchase ended up in Iran.

"The new development, when we're talking about this range of parts, this is an incredible number," Wyden said Thursday, adding that it makes him wonder what else other countries are acquiring through the military's surplus sales.

"I think the first thing the Pentagon ought to do," he said, "is support our legislation to make this a permanent ban," referring to F-14 part sales. "And when the ink is dry on that, they ought to get out there and take a look at the other areas."

Even as the Pentagon had planned to sell thousands of spare F-14 parts that could be used on multiple types of aircraft, following the AP's report, it suspended the sales while it conducts a security review of the jet components.

The contractor that handles surplus sales for the Pentagon, Government Liquidation, sent Wyden a letter this week endorsing the legislation, known as the "Stop Arming Iran Act."

"Like you, we feel that no sensitive military equipment should reach Iran," said company Vice President Anthony Humpage.
Last summer the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that an undercover review found numerous gaps in surplus sale security.

Following that report and at the Pentagon's request, Government Liquidation took steps to establish new inventory controls to stop sensitive items from slipping into surplus sales, the company said.

"Before, all our responsibility was to sell things," said Humpage. "Now we scan everything that we receive, run it against two DLA databases and our own buzzwords list to make sure that we don't even offer up anything on our Web site."

FMI: www.defenselink.mil, www.govliquidation.com, www.is.northropgrumman.com/products/navy_products/f14/f14.html