Ford Aerospace Settles Suit: Ford Aerospace Corp....

Ford Aerospace Settles Suit: Ford Aerospace Corp. said it has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a 5-year-old dispute in which the federal government claimed that the defense contractor used improper accounting practices on the ill-fated Sgt. York weapons program. The Justice Department alleged that Ford had improperly billed the government for certain labor costs on the Sgt. York anti-aircraft gun. A spokeswoman for Newport Beach-based Ford but a “compromise that reflects both sides’ desire to avoid expensive and time-consuming litigation.� The Sgt. York program was canceled in 1985 after the Pentagon had spent $1.8 billion and then determined that the weapon was ineffective.