U.S. joins Alliant suit over its flares

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 26, 2007 | by Bloomberg News

Alliant Techsystems Inc., the largest supplier of ammunition to the U.S military, is being accused by the government of selling the Air Force and Army more than $100 million of defective illumination flares.

The flares were for use in search-and-rescue and combat operations, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Justice Department said. The agency joined a whistle-blower suit filed in federal court in Salt Lake City by a former Alliant employee.

"Today's action is meant to ensure that the U.S. armed forces can have confidence in the safety of the products they use," Peter Keisler, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement.

The suit said the Minnesota-based company, beginning in May 2000, deliberately ignored information that a newly designed igniter for the flares was flawed. Alliant also failed to perform proper safety tests on the flares, the government said.

The U.S. paid more than $100 million for the defective flares, though in 2005 it refused further delivery after tests by the Navy discovered the safety problems, the Justice Department said.

Bryce Hallowell, a spokesman for Alliant, said the company turned down a settlement offer with the Justice Department after an internal review found the allegations to be "wholly without merit." Alliant "will vigorously defend itself and fully expects to prevail," he said.

The suit was filed under the federal False Claims Act, which lets whistle-blowers sue for fraud on behalf of the government. The law lets the U.S. collect three times the amount of its losses plus civil penalties. The person who initiated the case can share between 15 percent and 25 percent of any award.