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Alliant off Air Force's supplier blacklist
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Alliant Techsystems is off the Air Force's supplier blacklist.
The Air Force on Monday lifted its 11-day-old ban of the Edina-based defense and aerospace firm as a future supplier of launch system parts.
The blacklisting reportedly was caused by a 2006 whistleblower lawsuit in which a former employee has accused Alliant of intentionally selling defective military flares that had failed a safety test.
Alliant has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to take the lawsuit to trial. Alliant officials said late last week that they had requested an emergency meeting with senior Air Force officials to resolve the blacklisting.
Alliant officials declined to discuss the specifics of their meeting but issued a statement that the company "has received clearance from the U.S. Air Force for its Launch Systems group to immediately resume normal contracting processes and procedures. The clearance vacates an action by the Air Force that temporarily placed the group on the Excluded Parties List.''
The Air Force represents about 16 percent of Alliant's $4.1 billion in annual sales. Alliant's Launch Systems Division, the only unit affected by the ban, had $931 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2007.
The division is responsible for making baton-sized illumination flares that Air Force and search and rescue aircraft use to light up large patches of ground from above. Launch Systems also makes the space shuttle's reusable rocket boosters and has won new contracts to make the rockets and launch abort system for the Ares I, NASA's next-generation space shuttle.
Dee DePass • 612-673-7725
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