HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Family members of two Navy sailors killed in a helicopter crash in Italy two years ago have filed lawsuits against the companies that built the aircraft, accusing them of negligence.

The lawsuits against United Technologies Corp., its subsidiary, Sikorsky Aircraft and Fairfield-based conglomerate General Electric Co. were filed in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport this week. Each seeks $10 million in damages.

Lt. Peter Ober, 27, of Jacksonville, Fla. and Samuel Patrick Cox, 21, an aviation electrician’s mate 3rd class from Kansas City, Mo., were aboard the MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter when it went down 10 miles southwest of the Navy base at Sigonella in 2003. Cmdr. Kevin A. Bianchi of Maplewood, N.J. and Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Brian P. Gibson of Richmond, Va., were also killed.

The lawsuits were filed just before the two-year anniversary of the crash.

“The fact that you are manufacturing a product for the military doesn’t mean that you don’t have to manufacture it safely and design it properly and put it together properly,” said William Bloss, a Bridgeport attorney representing the Cox family. “These families are doing a service to other users of that type of military equipment.”

The lawsuits were filed by Ober’s wife, Alicia, of Virginia, and Cox’ parents, Joseph Cox and Mary Jo Thornley Cox of Kansas City. They claim since 1993, there were at least 16 in-flight fires or thermal incidents in helicopters that were powered by a GE engine. The problems led to a study, but the issues weren’t fixed and crews weren’t instructed on emergency procedures if the engine failed, the lawsuits say.

Messages seeking comment with Hartford-based UTC and Stratford-based Sikorsky were not immediately returned Saturday morning. Deborah Case, a spokeswoman for GE’s jet engine division, said the company’s legal team had not been notified about the lawsuits.

Cox completed a tour of duty in Iraq during the war. He moved cargo, including humanitarian aid, into the country. During his deployment, his parents started a Web log about military families from the area. He attended the University of Minnesota for one semester before moving to Kansas City in 2001.

Ober wrestled at in high school and at the Citadel, a military college, where he won the coaches’ award for tenacity and dedication so often that it was named after him in his senior year. He is survived by his wife and a young daughter.