Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed to pay $325 million to resolve allegations it provided and billed the National Reconnaissance Office for defective military satellite parts.

The Justice Department said Thursday its investigation found that Los Angeles-based Northrop and TRW Inc., which Northrop acquired in 2002, failed to properly test certain parts, known as heterojunction bipolar transistors, made by TRW between 1992 and 2002.

As a result, the companies placed certain defective parts into U.S. military satellite equipment. The government also found that the companies misrepresented and hid certain facts about the parts’ reliability. The settlement also resolves a whistleblower lawsuit.

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