Northrop Charged With Using Defective Parts

Northrop Grumman Corp. used defective parts in target drones it sold to the U.S. Navy, the Justice Department charged in a lawsuit it joined. The government said 32 target drones, which are used to simulate air threats for gunnery- and missile-training exercises, failed at the Navy’s Point Mugu firing range between 1993 to 1995. The Justice Department said Northrop knew the drones contained substandard parts manufactured by the company’s subcontractors. The department did not specify how much it was seeking in damages in the civil case, although it said it paid $300 million for the drones it said were defective. Mike Greywitt, a Northrop spokesman, said the company hadn’t been officially notified of Justice’s involvement in the lawsuit and therefore could not comment. The government took over a previously undisclosed suit filed in a federal court in Los Angeles by Daniel Jordan, a 10-year Northrop employee who is now an outside vendor representative and production coordinator. Jordan sued under a law that allows whistle-blowers to collect a portion of the recovery if they successfully sue on behalf of the U.S.