Spray Systems Mistakenly Sold by Navy OKd for Resale

Sophisticated aerial spray systems, which the Navy contends were mistakenly sold to a Northern California firm, were approved for sale to the public, a military surplus official at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station said Monday.

“We questioned the code and were told it was correct,” said John Rogers, head of the Defense Reutilization Marketing Office at the station.

The code, Rogers said, is used to designate whether military equipment that has been declared surplus can be sold to the public.

“If it doesn’t, we sit down and cut it up, blow it up or put it in a landfill,” Rogers said. “There are many ways to get rid of equipment instead of turning it loose on the public.”

Describing the equipment, which was originally sold by sealed bid, Rogers said, “I don’t remember the quantity. Some were complete and some were incomplete. Basically, the only thing we had was the tanks. I don’t recall that we had any spray units.”

Rogers said the systems were “a common item that you could buy in many places, except these had been used for military purposes.”

Aero Union Corp. of Chico paid $976 for four “Aero 14-A” spray systems and eight additional components at a 1982 sale of surplus military equipment at El Toro.

According to a company spokesman, the Navy later notified Aero Union, which specializes in fuel and chemical tank systems used primarily in fighting fires, that it wanted the equipment back because it had been mistakenly placed on the surplus list.

Aero Union has said it would return the systems if it was reimbursed $53,800 for labor, storage and expenses such as hotels and meals.

In the meantime, the company is advertising overseas to sell the equipment, which, if obtained by terrorists, could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons, according to one expert.