By Scott Schwebke - Standard-Examiner staff

PROMONTORY — ATK Launch Systems Inc. has agreed to a $36.9 million settlement with the federal government to resolve a whistleblower’s complaint that it sold dangerous and defective illumination flares made at its Promontory facility to the Army and Air Force, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

The government contended that from 2000 to 2006, ATK delivered LUU-2 and LUU-19 illuminating paraflares to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The flares, which burn in excess of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit for more than five minutes, are used for nighttime combat, covert and search and rescue operations and have been used extensively by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Justice said in a prepared statement.

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