Several countries of the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) member nations had illegally exported to the Soviet Union machine tools that could be used in combination with the Kongsberg numerical control (NC) devices made in Norway in violation of the CoCom agreement during the Cold War.
The involvement of Toshiba in this scandal was disclosed in May 1987. There was a significant fallout from the revelation as it was feared that American military secrets had been disclosed. Three Republican members of Congress symbolically struck a Toshiba radio set with a sledgehammer.
Details
The machine tool that combined with the Norwegian numerical control (NC) device and was exported to the Soviet Union. (based on the Norwegian Police Service report.)