TORONTO -- An unspecified number of Canadian military transport planes have counterfeit Chinese electronics in their cockpit displays, a new CBC News report asserts. The report could prove embarrassing to Canadian defense officials, who have denied the presence of such parts, CBC News says.

The parts are contained in the instrument panels of the Hercules C-130J aircraft and could cause a display malfunction that would leave the pilots "flying blind," the media report says.

Canadian officials have been aware of the presence of the fake chips since at summer 2012 but has neither confirmed the problem nor grounded the planes, CBC News alleges. Canada was made aware of the problem via a separate US investigation last year.

The organization has uncovered a memo from an official in the Canadian defense department that states, “Suspect counterfeit parts have been identified by the original equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin, as being present on several aircraft in their worldwide fleet, including some of Canada’s C-130J aircraft.”

The memo identified the fake parts and indicated they would be replaced.

CBC News says that once the memo was leaked, the Canadian government was forced to acknowledge the problem for the first time, but has no plans to replace the fake parts.

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