Counterfeit airplane electronics? Coming from Guess Where? Yeesh

Counterfeit electronics from China are flooding the global electronics supply chain -- you know it, I know it, the U.S. Department of Commerce knows it. It's a story we've seen in the electronics industry news again and again and again and again.

And so, again. This time, from Bloomberg Businessweek:

Chinese Producers Dominate $8.2 Billion EU Counterfeit Market

Chinese producers, with the aid of organized criminal networks, control the $8.2 billion European market for designer-clothes knockoffs, fake electronics and uninspected airplane parts, the United Nations says...“There are a dramatic number of counterfeits in manufacturing,” [Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime] said. “When we climb on a plane, there is a risk that some of parts have been pirated and therefore don’t meet specifications.”

Have we really have we come to such a pass? What is going on? The editors at the UK's Aviation-Database.com have a clue:

Obsolescence in electronic systems design has prompted a market in counterfeit electronic components which appear genuine, but which actually are substandard, altogether different, or in the worst cases, simply empty packages. Counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs), capacitors, amplifiers, batteries, connectors, power-management devices, and other electronic parts already are making their way into mission-critical military and aerospace systems, some of which depend on the utmost reliability.

Some of these electronic components simply begin life as manufacturing overruns. Some come from well-meaning manufacturers who believe they have equivalent parts. Others come from unscrupulous shops seeking to exploit a hot market and a trusting set of buyers.

Rhetorical question time: Do you really want to fly in a plane that is using counterfeit electronic components to manage the flight controls?

So, what to do? As we've reported on this website, counterfeit avoidance demands 'zero tolerance' policies. Along those same lines, the folks over at the website of American Electronics Resource have posted a remarkable article featuring a series of detailed images, regarding detection of counterfeit electronic parts through a process of microscopic visual inspection.

And thankfully, manufacturers and distributors aren't on their own in combating this problem.As was reported this past March in IHS's Aviation and Defense Industry Trends newsletter, last year, SAE International released its first-ever standard designed to help companies ensure they are procuring and installing legitimate electronic parts rather than counterfeit ones.

The standard, "AS5553, Counterfeit Electronic Parts; Avoidance, Detection, Mitigation, and Disposition," was created at the behest of NASA, which is concerned about the rising number of counterfeit electronic parts in the supply chain. The document is aimed primarily at companies in the aerospace and defense industry, and has since been adopted by the U.S. Defense Department.

"The problem is, things like aircraft and certain spacecraft like the space shuttle have such long lives that the companies that originally manufactured the parts often go out of business or no longer make the parts," noted Bruce Mahone, director of Washington operations, aerospace, for SAE International. "So you can't buy directly from the manufacturer or from one of his authorized distributors. You end up going to a broker who basically buys up old parts."

We'll continue to cover this story at Interconnection World, and here's hoping the U.N. and the Federal Government will continue to do their jobs in an effort to rectify -- not to say eradicate -- the problem.

Meantime, if you happen to be sitting gateside, waiting to board your flight, and reading this...sorry about that.