WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has suspended a Florida company's contract to provide ammunition to Afghan security forces because of concerns about the packaging, age and origin of the gun cartridges, U.S. defense officials said on Thursday.

The military has started an investigation into the contract and the contractor, privately held AEY Inc. of Miami Beach, which sent millions of questionable rifle and machine-gun cartridges to the Afghan forces NATO hopes will lead the fight against the Taliban.

"This is an Army contract that has currently been suspended as they look at the performance of that contract or contractor," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

"There is some concern with the packaging of the ammunition that's not in accordance with the type of standards we would like to see and what we would expect in the performance of this contract," he said.

Whitman also said the ammunition's age and origin was in question.

"That's one of the reasons they're taking a look at it," he said.

The contract suspension followed an investigation by The New York Times, which found tens of millions of cartridges supplied by AEY under the $300 million federal contract were manufactured in China, in possible violation of U.S. law.

The newspaper on Thursday reported the company provided ammunition that was more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging. The Times also said AEY worked with a company on a U.S. list of groups suspected of illegal arms trafficking.

AEY President Efraim Diveroli, 22, told Reuters when contacted by phone at his Miami Beach office, "I'm not making any comments, I have nothing to say, I mean, one way or another."

Asked if his lawyer would be issuing any statement on the story, he said, "I don't believe he will be."

Asked about possible charges in the case, Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said, "I saw the (New York Times) article and unfortunately I will not be able to confirm or deny."

While the Pentagon said there were no reports of safety problems with the ammunition, Whitman also said that could be because the suspect ammunition might not have been distributed to soldiers because of its condition.

"I suppose that's a possibility," he said.

(Reporting by Kristin Roberts and Tom Brown; Editing by Bill Trott)

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