ITT admits illegally exporting arms to China

ITT HAS ADMITTED illegally exporting night-vision technology to China and other countries.

The Justice Department said that the company will have to pay $100 million which is one of the largest fines in a US criminal prosecution.

ITT was also the first major US defense contractor convicted of a criminal violation of the Arms Export Control Act which has so far only caught small arms dealers.

The department told the Washington Post said that ISS had a culture where export laws as an obstacle to making money and they actively and willfully worked to circumvent them.

ITT says that the restricted technical information was transferred when ITT was seeking an overseas supplier to build some components of the night-vision equipment without the appropriate licences.

Night-vision equipment is designated as "defense articles" on the US Munitions List, companies are required to obtain State Department authorisation before exporting them.

The main reason for all this is to make enemies of the United States eat lots of carrots if they want to match NATO forces in night warfare. Unfortunately too many carrots can prove deadly. µ