Pentagon inspector faults U.S. oversight of BAE

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The report did not cite any examples of any feared leaks. It said advanced U.S. aviation and weapons know-how "may not be adequately protected" at BAE, which is also working on a competing fighter aircraft.

Headquartered in Farnborough, England, BAE is the biggest overseas contractor on the Lockheed Martin Corp -led F-35. The radar-evading aircraft is being developed by the United States and eight foreign partners, including Britain.

BAE also plays a key role in the rival Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, noted the report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Project on Government Oversight, a private watchdog group.

"The advanced aviation and weapons technology for the JSF program may have been compromised by unauthorized access at facilities and in computers at BAE Systems, and incomplete contractor oversight may have increased the risk of unintended or deliberate release of information to foreign competitors," said the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General.

"With contractors such as BAE Systems Plc, and its subsidiaries working on competing aircraft, the U.S. government needs to implement effective management accountability and security controls to safeguard JSF technologies," it added.

BAE Systems Inc, the U.S subsidiary of BAE Systems Plc and the largest foreign-owned or foreign-controlled defence contractor in the United States, said it strongly disagreed with the inspector general's suggestion that information may have been compromised at BAE plants.

"There is no basis whatsoever for that conclusion," said Greg Alan Caires, a BAE spokesman in Arlington, Virginia.

"BAE Systems also strongly disagrees with the suggestion that we did not perform required audits and fully comply with our Special Security Agreement. That suggestion is simply false."

The Joint Strike Fighter family of aircraft is the Pentagon's costliest planned acquisition program ever at nearly $300 billion (152 billion pounds) for more than 2,450 fighters.

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