Pentagon stops F-14 parts sales amid Iran concerns
30 Jan 2007 23:52:19 GMT Source: Reuters
By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday said it had stopped selling surplus parts for the F-14 fighter jet, saying it was the "right thing to do," given congressional concerns that some parts could land in the hands of Iran. Iran, which is facing strong Western opposition to its nuclear program, is the only country still flying the F-14, also called the Tomcat, since the U.S. military retired the plane in July. The Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency said it halted sales of certain sensitive F-14 parts in February 2006, but the ban now covered all F-14 parts until the government completed a comprehensive review of what to do with them. "It was the right thing to do," said Dawn Dearden, spokeswoman for the Pentagon agency, citing what she called "the situation in Iran." The West accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies, saying it only wants to make electricity. The Pentagon's move took effect on Friday, and came after congressional criticism of security weaknesses that gave buyers for Iran access to the aircraft parts. The agency did not disclose details of those incidents. It formerly held liquidation sales of surplus parts. The earlier halt in sales affected what the agency called "unique" F-14 parts and those "deemed critical to F-14 operations" that could be used for other aircraft. Dearden said about 60 percent of the roughly 76,000 parts for the F-14 were general nuts-and-bolts-type aircraft hardware that can be sold safely to the public without restrictions, but even those sales would be halted for now. She said the Pentagon planned to destroy some 10,000 components that are unique to the F-14, and was reviewing what to do with 23,000 parts that could be used for other aircraft. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and member of the Senate intelligence committee, has written legislation to eliminate all Pentagon sales of F-14 parts saying weaknesses in security allowed buyers for countries including Iran and China to obtain sensitive military equipment, including F-14 parts. The bill would also ban previous buyers who already had surplus F-14 parts from exporting them to third parties. The U.S. military in July retired the two-seat, twin-engine F-14 Tomcat, made famous in the 1986 movie, "Top Gun." That leaves only Iran, which bought the fighter jet in the 1970s when it was a U.S. ally, still flying the planes. The Government Accountability Office has issued several reports in recent years raising concerns about the lack of adequate security on the Pentagon's excess property sales. For instance, its undercover investigators found that several sensitive excess military items, including 12 digital microcircuits used in F-14s, were improperly sold to the public at liquidation sales.
