The Honorable John C. Whitehead Deputy Secretary of State Washington, DC
Dear John:
aper addressing the question posedletter'of This paper hasfor your use with thehas
been coordinated within thend the Department of Defense.
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Enclosure
Robert M. Gates Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
public statemext
chrowxocr of events in the toshiba/1ongsberg propeller killing ttxmfolcgl diversion case
he soviet foreign trade organization, teknashinport, contacted the japanese trading fire, wako koekl. tekraashimport wanted to purchase western automated propeller manufacturing equipment for one of its clients.
wako koeki surveyed japanese machine tool manufacturers to determine which produced such specialty equipment and would supply it to the soviets.
toshibaajority owned subsidiary of the toshiba electric corporation, agreed to provide the equipment and negotiations began.
the japanese firms enlisted the norwegian firm kongsbergivision of kongsberg vaapenfabrikk. kongsberg trade agreed to provide the computer numerical controllers, the brains that run the machines, and the propeller design and production software.
on1 two contracts were signed in moscow. the first between tekmashlmport and c. itch, the second between tekmashlmport and kongsberg trade.
zboh, acting as the agent for toshiba machine, agreed to supply four, state-of-the-art, propeller milling machinestoshiba machine's modelnd to provided service and
m spare parts for five years from the date of installation.
thes capable of precision milling propellers up toeters in diameter andocom restricted commodity.
kongsberg trade agreed to supply the cad/cah system including the computer, spare parts for theomputer numerical controllers, and service for five years from the date of.
hird contract between kongsberg trade and toshiba machine, kongsberg agreed to supply the numerical controllers to toshiba machine for installation in thes before shipment by c. itoh to the soviet union.
the four sophisticated marine propeller milling machines and propeller cad/cah software were divertedoviet navy propeller production facility in leningrad--the baltic shipyard.
equipment was delivered and installed in the shipyard starting3 and completed in The companies serviced and updated the machines and software as late as
The software was modified4 to enhance the capabilities of the machines and reduce the time it takes toropeller.
Violations.
The sale of this equipmentiolation of COCOH restrictions on the sale of machine tools and computer numerical controllers to proscribed destinations.
-- The machines exceeded the COCOH limits on the number of
simultaneous9 vshe number of workingshe maximum allowable machine size; and the spindle cutting power.
computer numerical controllers exceeded the limits on number of simultaneouss 2.
-- The software was modified by Kongsberg to generate output matching the specifications of the Toshiba machines. This software was specifically developed for automated marine propeller manufacturing. However, software was not explicitly controlled under the COCOH list in force at the time of the sale.
This sale has allowed the Soviet Union to acquire the ability to produce quieter propellers for its submarine fleet reliably, repeatedly, and in large numbers.
-- These machines and the software have provided the three essential ingredients for the manufacture of quieted propellers:
m.
flexibility5 axis machining simultaneously on two different blades.
high degree of automation.
-- These characteristics allow the machines to produce propellers with numerous, skewed, Identical blades that are precisely contoured to reduce low frequency blade rate noise and high frequency cavitation noise. In addition, the accuracy of the machines and the manufacturing software enable the Soviets to produce these complex propellers with low rejection rates.
-- These machines allowed the Soviet Union to more than triple their yearly production rate of sophisticated propellers.
Original document.
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