2007-03-07 - FBI Agents Seize F-14 from Yanks Museum and I was there

LOS ANGELES — Federal agents seized four retired F-14 fighter jets that authorities said were improperly transferred from the Navy to two air museums and the company that produced the TV show "JAG."

The Tomcats were not properly demilitarized before being transferred to private parties, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which worked with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in a 17-month investigation.

Under the rigorous demilitarization process, navigation, radar and other sensitive equipment are disabled so they can no longer perform military functions, said Cmdr. Dave Werner, a U.S. Navy spokesman.

"In this case, it seems (the jets) didn't formally undergo the process," Werner said.

Two of the jets were at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California, another was at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, and the fourth, which was acquired by Paramount Pictures, then resold to a scrap dealer, had been stored at a facility operated by Southern California Aviation at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California.

None of the jets were currently flyable, but one in Chino still has its engines and was at least superficially in very good condition, said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice. The other three do not have engines but were otherwise essentially whole, she said.

There was no indication any of the hardware fell into the wrong hands "but it does present a vulnerability," Kice said.

After-hours calls to curators at the Yanks Air and Planes of Fame museums were not immediately returned Tuesday. Efforts to reach Mark Thomson, the scrap dealer who bought the F-14 from the producer of "JAG," were unsuccessful.

The Navy added F-14s to the fleet in 1972 and retired the last of them in 2006.

Iran, which acquired F-14s in the 1970s when it was an ally of the United States, is the only country trying to keep the jets in the air.

With little ability to produce parts on its own, Iran is aggressively pursuing several avenues to obtain U.S. spares, including contacting American aerospace supply companies or using U.S-based "front companies" to broker deals, according to an affidavit filed in support of the F-14 seizures.

"The aircraft, therefore, present an extreme safety hazard to the public, with potential liability on the part of the United States Department of Navy," ICE special agent Joshua Barnett wrote in the affidavit.

The four seized jets were retired from active service at the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu, California in the late 1990s. A former Naval Chief Warrant Officer told investigators he sold the F-14s to a scrap dealer without verifying they were properly demilitarized and expected the fighter jets to be destroyed, the affidavit said.

"The same thing that makes these planes a source of interest for aircraft enthusiasts, their relatively pristine condition, also makes them desirable for those with less innocent motives," Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

"The strict regulations governing the transfer of military aircraft are designed to reduce the likelihood that sensitive equipment and technology might fall into the hands of individuals or countries seeking to do us or our allies harm," Schoch said.

The jets will be partially dismantled and taken to the military's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center in Tucson, Arizona, for storage and final demilitarization.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257219,00.html

Kjfitz, super sleuth, gets the scoop again! Great first-hand account. I've read a lot of F-14 parts from militarized F-14s have been making their way to Iran's aging fleet of Tomcats.

More details here.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-ex-f14-7mar08,0,3204162.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Update here: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5387608

LOS ANGELES- A probe of illegal arms sales to Iran led to the seizure of four old F-14 fighter jets that were acquired by air museums and the producers of the TV show "JAG," authorities said.
The inoperable Tomcats seized Tuesday were retired from the Navy and were supposed to have been scrapped but they were never properly demilitarized, authorities said.

One was acquired by Paramount Pictures and was used as a prop for "JAG" before it was resold. It was seized Tuesday at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville.

Two other F-14s were removed from the Yanks Air Museum in Chino and a fourth from the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino.

Federal agents told Paul Rafferty, the attorney for Yanks Air Museum, that the planes were "evidence" in a criminal investigation of their original sale, Rafferty told the Los Angeles Times.

Rick Gwin, special agent in charge of the Western field office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, declined to comment on the investigation.

The Navy retired the last of its F-14s last year. In January, the military suspended the sale of spare parts from the planes amid concern that they could be sent to Iran, which still flies F-14s obtained from the U.S.

Federal officials got wind of the planes during an investigation that began with a probe of illegal arms sales to Iran by a Bakersfield company.

The owner and two officers of Multicore Ltd. were convicted in 2001 of violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act.

Company paperwork indicated that a former California parts dealer, Greg Forbes, had sold an F-14 canopy to Multicore, said Clark Settles, a U.S. customs agent who handled the case.

During a sting operation, Forbes agreed to get another F-14 canopy to a federal agent and obtained it from the Yanks museum, which led eventually to discovery that the four jets were improperly released by the Navy and that there was no documentation that they were properly demilitarized.

Meanwhile, the deal with Forbes fell through when he contacted the FBI to report his belief that the undercover agent was an Iranian official, court records indicated.

Forbes said he became suspicious when the agent uttered the word "Iran."

"I said, 'You can't sell it to Iran. You have to have an export license,'" Forbes told the Times Wednesday. "Then that's when I called the FBI and DCIS. I called Customs, even."

Settles said there was no evidence anyone at Yanks thought the canopy might end up in the hands of Iranian officials.

Rafferty, the Yanks attorney, said the museum had extra canopies and needed a special engine lifting device that was offered in trade.

"The museum doesn't believe it's done anything wrong. It's not a focus of the investigation," he said. "At the end of the day, Yanks wants to get the jets back whenever it's appropriate."

The jets were retired from active service at the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu in the late 1990s. A former officer told investigators he sold them to a scrap dealer without verifying they were properly demilitarized and expected the jets to be destroyed, according to an affidavit filed in support of the F-14 seizures.

The producer of "JAG" told the Times his company went through proper military channels when it acquired the retired F-14.

"They didn't sell us one. They gave us one, and they removed the engines," said show producer Don Bellisario. "The Navy said to us, 'We can give you an old aircraft, but we have to demil (demilitarize) it before we can give it to you.' I just assumed that's what happened."

Bellisario said the Navy cut the F-14's fuselage in half and then welded it back together. Unable to fly, the jet was used as a prop for shots on the ground and had to be towed around, he said.

More here: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htproc/articles/20070314.aspx

Jets shredded, kept away from 'bad guys'

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_6279373?nclick_check=1

Video: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=49750&cl=3225195&ch=68276&src=news