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British defence group Cobham has been raided by Pentagon and NASA investigators.
The raid came at Cobham's Florida business, which makes survival gear for the US military and the NASA space programme.
Cobham said in a statement it is being probed over the "specification, manufacture and origin of parts" of equipment made by its US subsidiary Conax.
The business is understood to make emergency parachutes and lifebelts for NASA and US Air Force pilots and safety-belt gear for Humvee armoured vehicles.
Armed federal agents representing six arms of the US government shut down the Conax plant yesterday, waving search warrants.
Those bodies included the NASA Office of the Inspector General, whose stated aim is to "prevent and detect crime, fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement".
Officers from the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service were present as well as investigators from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Spokesmen for the bodies refused to comment.
Cobham, which employs 220 at Conax, is said to have been lured to Florida because of the tax incentives.
It was awarded a $34 million life-support equipment contract by the Pentagon last year.
"At this point we're just trying to determine what they're after and we just don't know," said Chester Claudon, Conax general manager.
