(Bloomberg) -- The US Air Force has opened an inquiry into whether Lockheed Martin Corp. must pay restitution or repair defective parts on a widely used transport aircraft after the Pentagon inspector general disclosed shortcomings in how the service oversees flawed items.
The Air Force initially didn’t seek restitution for 45 defective parts valued at $5.9 million detected between September 2023 and January 2024 for its C-130J Super Hercules because “deficiency reporting personnel did not enforce contract warranty terms,” according to a report last month by the inspector general that examined the service’s oversight of parts.
Lockheed “has responsibility to ensure they are delivering quality, non-defective parts,” the Air Force Materiel Command, which provides management of the workhorse transport aircraft, said in a statement.
The command has launched a “Corrective Action Plan process” to be completed by February that will “consider all available options for contractor restitution — i.e. repair, replacement, or refund,” according to the command. “We have agreed, or partially agreed, to every IG recommendation to improve our contractor restitution process,” it said.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it’s “working closely with teams from the Air Force to best understand the details, the recommendations” and the Corrective Action Plan that’s being developed.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
