Companies Profiles for the Warwick Internships Fair 15/1/09

The University careers service recommends that you find out as much about the companies attending the fair today as you can, we feel that this is a very reasonable suggestion. We feel that some of the companies attending today, are unlikely to give a full account of their activities and therefore this leaflet is intended to help you know the facts that the companies attending probably will not include in their recruitment pitch. Although the members of the Weapons out of Warwick campaign have strong opinions about the negative impact of these companies in the world, we acknowledge that not every student agrees with us, we feel that students whatever they’re opinion should be aware of the issues surrounding the arms trade, the environment, corporate ethics and any potential employers who visit our campus.

Rolls Royce

17^th Largest Arms Manufacturer in the world[1]. 2^nd Largest UK Arms Company. Approximately $14.2 Billion of Military Sales making up 25% of total sales[2]. Rolls Royce is the 2^nd Largest Manufacturer of Aerospace Engines powering approximately 25% of the world’s military aircraft and has its equipment installed on over 2,200 warships including all of the UK’s nuclear submarines.

Rolls Royce Produces engines for Military aircraft made by other arms companies such as BAE systems, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, they manufacture the engines for the Eurofighter, Jaguar, Harrier, Tornado, Hawk Jet, Apache and Tiger attack helicopters. Rolls Royce also deals in ship design, electronics for naval forces and submarine equipment. Rolls Royce’s Subsidiary Rolls Royce Raynesway manufacturers parts for nuclear reactors including control rods, valves and other components and its plant at Raynesway has numerous safety concerns about the control and techniques for nuclear waste disposal[3].

Military customers include Israel, Indonesia (Hawk jets sold during the East Timor conflict and allegedly used against civilians in the Aceh province), Turkey, US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Brunei, Malaysia, South Korea, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Rolls Royce also sells the jet engines used in the Myanmar national airline which is a nationalised operation which helps finance the Burmese Junta.

Detica

Detica is owned by BAE systems (92% controlling stake. Detica provides consultancy, customized technology, and knowledge management services to government and corporate clients in the defence, homeland security, counterterrorism, intelligence, and Federal markets sectors. BAE believes the UK ‘homeland security and resilience market’ will double to more than £3bn by 2011 and looks to cash in on this[4].

Nestlé

The Warwick Student’s Union supports the Baby Milk Action’s boycott of Nestlé[5]. Nestlé employs approximately 253,000 people in some 511 factories worldwide. Nestlé is the world’s largest food company[6]. With products like Perrier and Nescafé, it is the market leader worldwide in coffee and mineral water[7], the largest manufacturer of pet food, and is fast increasing its share of the ice cream market.

Needless to say, however, this version doesn’t give a very full explanation of the scandals which have plagued the company. The most obvious damage to Nestlé’s reputation has been its unethical marketing of artificial baby milk, particularly in the global south. This started to become a major issue in the 1970s when War on Want published a report called “The Baby Killer”, which was translated into German by the Berne Third World Action Group who were subsequently sued for libel, having named their version “Nestlé Kills Babies”.[8] In 1977 a boycott was launched, which continued until 1984, when Nestlé agreed to abide by the World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes. However, the fact did not match up to the promises and the boycott was re-launched in 1988, continuing vigorously today.

There is, of course, much more to Nestlé than the baby milk issue. The company has attracted criticism for its use of genetically modified ingredients, and for its cocoa and coffee-buying policies, including purchasing cocoa from Ivory Coast, which has recently received heavy press coverage due to the existence of child slavery on cocoa plantations. The company has also been implicated in lobbying against vaccination of livestock during the British Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in 2001. From environmental destruction in Brazil to the intimidation of trade unionists in Colombia, from demanding millions in compensation from hunger-stricken Ethiopia to bolstering its image through proposing donations to breast cancer charities – Nestlé is one of the world’s most campaigned against companies. [9]

Royal Bank of Scotland

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is a hugely significant private funder of oil and gas extraction and exploration. Between 2001 and 2006, RBS provided over $10 billion in loans to oil and gas projects. The embedded carbon emissions resulting from these projects in 2006 were greater than the carbon emissions for the whole of Scotland. RBS has positioned itself as ‘the oil and gas bank’. With dedicated oil and gas offices, RBS has significant experience and expertise in the sector, and provides crucial services to oil and gas companies. Working as a hands-on partner to the industry, RBS structured the loan agreements and acted as financial adviser on over $30 billion of projects between 2001 and 2006. Other banks describe RBS as the most competitive in the sector, prepared to undercut other banks and offer cheaper loans and finance the projects no other British bank will.

The intimate relationship that RBS has with the fossil fuel industry extends to new areas of expansion. As traditional oil extraction begins to peak, unconventional fossil fuels, such as oil sands and coal bed methane, are becoming a reality. Previously inaccessible, this ‘dirty’ oil requires far more energy to convert into usable forms than traditional crude oil, resulting in much higher carbon emissions. RBS has called the development of oil sands an “energy-financing growth area”, and identified the need for “drilling dollars” for coal bed methane development. [10]

The NUS and Warwick Students Union is committed to putting pressure on RBS due to RBS’s poor environmental record. The NUS National Treasurer has written twice to the RBS Chairman, threatening to stop banning with them and “…seek alternative, more ethical banking options” by their AGM in 2009, should RBS not significantly change this support and conduct a full and published investigation into their entire, embedded carbon footprint.[11]

For more information see weaponsoutofwarwick.wordpress.com

Or the Facebook group Weapons out of Warwick

Please recycle this leaflet

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[1] CAAT Publications – Rolls Royce, http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/companies/rolls-royce2003.php , Accessed 7/10/07

[2] Rolls Royce Annual Report 2006, http://www.rolls-royce.com/investors/reports/2006/pdfs/rrar_2006.pdf , accessed 7/10/07

[3] “A basic summary of what we know about Rolls Royce Raynesway (RRR) and Rolls Royce (RR) as a company” handout.

[4] Financial Times 29/7/08

[5] Warwick Students Union Policy 506 “Nestle”

[6] Nestle Website www.Nestlé.com/all_about/at_a_glance/index.html

[7] Hoovers Database, Nestle – Company overview www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/5/0,2163,41815,00.html

[8] Baby Milk Action, History of the Campaign, www.babymilkaction.org/www.babymilkaction.org/pages/history.html

[9] Corporate Watch, Nestle Overview http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=237

[10] People and Planet, “The Oil Bank of Scotland, RBS Campaign Summary” http://peopleandplanet.org/ditchdirtydevelopment/privatefunding

[11] Warwick Students Union Policy 684 “Putting pressure on Natwest/RBS”

BAE Systems The alternative recruitment guide

BAE Systems

The Alternative

Recruitment Guide

The University careers service recommends that you find out as much about companies recruiting as you can. We feel that this is a very reasonable suggestion therefore to help out below you will find information that BAE systems probably will not include in their recruitment pitch.

Statistics

3^rd Largest Arms Manufacturer in the World. Largest UK arms Company. £13.7 billion sales, £11.8 billion military sales, 83% military[1]. Less than 20% of BAE’s sales are to the UK[2].

Products

Products include: Assault rifles , Combat Aircraft, Unmanned Aircraft, Nuclear Submarines, Warships, Nuclear weapons (via its subsidiary MBDA), Missiles, Torpedoes, Tanks, Artillery Guns, Munitions, Armoured Vehicles, Radar Systems, handcuffs and shackles used in Guantanamo Bay and Saudi Arabia (from their subsidiary Hiatts[3]).

Customers

BAE claims to sell to customers in more than 100 countries[4]. Military customers of note include the UK, US, Israel, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia (Hawk Jets sold during the violent repression of East Timor), India, Pakistan, Tanzania, Lebanon, Poland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Romania, Chile, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Columbia, Egypt, Ghana, Afghanistan, Brazil, Columbia, Qatar, Algeria (via Qatar)[5], Malaysia, Kenya, Czech Republic, Sweden, Morocco (including attempting to secure a deal in the conflict area of Western Sahara), Greece, Germany, Italy, Austria, Australia, Finland, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Uruguay and Vietnam,

Israel

There has been considerable concern at the supply by BAE Systems of ‘Head up Displays’ (HUD) for F-16 fighter aircraft destined for Israel. The first of Israel’s new order arrived in 2005 and the first 25 will F16s were fitted with BAE Systems HUDs. The remaining 77 were be fitted with Elbit HUDs. BAE systems are also supplying part of the ‘navigation suite’ and elements of the ‘self protection suite’ (including a BAE Systems/Rokar flare) for all Israel’s F16 jets. BAE also maintains a permanent office in Jerusalem.[6]

It has been rumoured that BAE’s “Suter” airborne network attack system was used by Israel in its bombing of Syria in 2007. “Suter” is developed by BAE Systems and integrated into U.S. unmanned aircraft by L-3 Communications. The system has been used or at least tested operationally in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last year.

The technology allows users to invade communications networks, see what enemy sensors see and even take over as systems administrator so sensors can be manipulated into positions so that approaching aircraft can’t be seen, they say. The process involves locating emitters with great precision and then directing data streams into them that can include false targets and misleading messages algorithms that allow a number of activities including control.[7]

Its is timely to remind readers that arms contracts typically last many years with support, upgrades and staged deliveries being provided many years after the original deal was signed.

Corruption and other scandals

BAE systems is currently being investigated over deals in Chile, Czech Republic, Qatar, Romania, South Africa and Tanzania. A serious fraud office investigation into the Al Yamamah arms deal to Saudi Arabia was shut down in 2006 over suspect reasons of national security.

In 2008 BAE released the “Woolf Report” into ethical practice at the company, the report failed to examine any past problems at the company and did not address key problems in judging which (or indeed any) arms deals can be considered ethical. Although BAE claims the report to be independent, the author, Lord Woolf, was paid £6,000 per day for writing it.[8]

Spying

A man named Paul Mercer was exposed in 2007 as having spied on Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) after court action. He was revealed to have been paid £2,500 a month by the giant arms company’s security department for his work against CAAT. He claims he was being paid to simply monitor the group and its activities. BAE is facing a wide range of bribery allegations’. Mercer obtained a CD with details of confidential CAAT legal advice and at the end of 2006 passed it to Michael McGinty, head of BAE’s security department, BAE was successfully sued in the high court in 2007 and it was revealed that the company had been “obstructing justice” in the words of the judge. The judge decided there was “undoubtedly” evidence supporting suspicions that the firm had in the past penetrated the campaign to obtain information covertly, BAE were forced to admit their source for receiving CAAT’s legal advice.[9]

In 2003, the Sunday Times revealed that BAE had carried out a “widespread spying operation” on its critics. “Bank accounts were accessed, computer files downloaded and private correspondence with members of parliament and ministers secretly copied and passed on.” The paper said the arms company made use of a network run by a former consultant for the Ministry of Defence called Evelyn Le Chene. “Le Chene recruited at least half a dozen agents to infiltrate CAAT’s headquarters at Finsbury Park, north London, and a number of regional offices.” They provided BAE with advanced intelligence on CAAT’s campaign against the sale of its Hawk aircraft to the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia. The arms company also obtained CAAT’s membership list, its bank account details, the identity of its donors, its letters to ministers, even the contents of private diaries belonging to its staff.[10] The paid national events manager for CAAT, a man called Martin Hogbin was later found to be a mole within the CAAT organisation.

Saudi Arabia

The Guardian first disclosed in 2003 how the company operated a £20-million slush fund to “entertain” Saudi princes who might favourably influence its chances of winning the “al-Yamamah” deal to buy warships and fighter jets. “Allegations include the provision of prostitutes, sports cars, yachts, first-class plane tickets, Mercedes cars with drivers, unlimited restaurant meals, cup final tickets, club memberships, gambling trips, TV sets and sound systems.” An internal BAE security report referred to allegations of “sex and bondage with Saudi princes”. [11]

Allegations have surfaced from investigations by the Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight and the Serious Fraud Office, they found that bribes totalling £1bn were paid to the Saudi Prince Bandar by BAE systems in return for the £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deal, in which BAE systems sold Tornado aircraft to Saudi Arabia, also implicated for corruption in parts of the deal were Rolls Royce, Thorn EMI, Mark Thatcher and Jonathan Aitkin as well as the Thatcher government.

In 2006 Tony Blair closed the SFO investigation in the arms deal after lobbying from BAE systems and threats made by the Saudi Government threatening to cancel the new BAE systems Al-Salam Eurofighter deal and ending intelligence sharing. CAAT and The Corner House challenged the closure of the investigation in the High Court and won. The High Court quashed the SFO decision to terminate the investigation. In a strongly worded judgment, the Court described how BAE and the Saudi regime had lobbied Tony Blair and his ministers to have the investigation dropped. The judges went so far as to describe the Saudi threat as a “successful attempt by a foreign government to pervert the course of justice in the United Kingdom”[12]. The decision has since been appealed against in the house of lords by the government and BAE, the Lords decided that the investigation could legally be stopped for reasons of national security but Lady Hale said that ”I confess I would have liked to be able to uphold the decision … of the divisional court. It is extremely distasteful that an independent public official should feel himself obliged to give way to threats of any sort”[13].

The case is still being investigated by the US Department of Justice, FBI and the UK government was recently condemned by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for their failure to tackle bribery looking specifically at the failure to investigate BAE systems.[14]

South Africa

More than £100m was secretly paid by the arms company BAE to sell warplanes to South Africa, according to allegations in a detailed police dossier. The leaked evidence from South African police and the British Serious Fraud Office quotes a BAE agent recommending “financially incentivising” politicians. In the arms deal, the new ANC government in South Africa agreed to spend a controversial £1.6bn buying fleets of Hawk and Gripen warplanes. Critics said the country, beset by unemployment and HIV/Aids, could not afford it. The Hawks, rejected by the military, cost twice as much as Italian equivalents. It is alleged that BAE systems funnelled corrupt payments to Joe Modise, the Defence minister at the time and numerous aides.[15] BAE is accused in the reports of corrupt relationships with an arms tycoon, John Bredenkamp, recently blacklisted in the US for his links with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. BAE’s former marketing director for southern Africa, Allan McDonald, has been speaking to police, the leaked files say. He allegedly told them Bredenkamp “gave progress reports directly to Mike Turner”. Turner, who has been interviewed under caution by the SFO, stepped down last year as BAE’s chief executive. Bredenkamp-linked companies were paid £40m by BAE to promote the arms deal. [16]

Chile

In September 2005 The Guardian reported that BAE had secretly paid £1 million to General Pinochet in return for help over arms deals. The payments were said to have appeared in US banking records, unearthed by a Chilean judge pursuing Pinochet for tax evasion. They were made between 1997 and 2004. A Serious Fraud Office team is reported to have met the judge in Santiago.[17]

Tanzania

In 2001, Tony Blair overruled Clare Short and Gordon Brown to grant an export licence for BAE’s sale of a military air-traffic control system to one of the world’s poorest countries, Tanzania. The World Bank had pointed out that the contract was ridiculously expensive – Tanzania could have bought a better system elsewhere for a quarter of the price. In January the Guardian revealed that BAE Systems allegedly paid a $12m (£6.2m) “commission” to an agent who brokered the deal.[18]

Qatar

Following the sale of a package of UK arms to Qatar in 1996, BAE reportedly paid a £7m “commission” into three Jersey trust funds under the control of Qatar’s Foreign Minister. A criminal investigation began in Jersey in 2000 but, with Qatari pressure, a jittery UK arms industry and Qatar’s support seen as vital in prosecuting the “war on terror”, the investigation ended in 2002 on “public interest” grounds. The Qatari Foreign Minister denied any wrongdoing but agreed to pay Jersey £6m for “perceived damage”. The investigation was uncovered by the Jersey Evening Post and is still under investigation by the SFO.¹⁷

Romania

In June 2006, with the arrest of a BAE agent, it emerged that the 2003 sale of two ex-Royal Navy frigates to Romania by BAE was under investigation by the SFO and Ministry of Defence Police. Payments of £7 million in “secret commissions” were allegedly made to clinch the £116 million ship refurbishment deal.¹⁷

Czech Republic

In November 2006 the sale of Gripen fighter aircraft to the Czech Republic became linked with an SFO investigation. An initial deal to buy 24 of the aircraft was cancelled because the Czech Government had to deal instead with the devastating floods in 2002. However, two years later, a lease deal for 14 Gripen aircraft was signed. In 2003 The Guardian said that the US had accused BAE of “corrupt practice” following reports from the CIA and rival arms companies and that the Czech police had confirmed bribery attempts by BAE. In February 2007 Swedish broadcaster SVT showed hidden-camera coverage of a former Czech foreign minister admitting that “money changed hands” with politicians over the Gripen deal. That month a senior Swedish prosecutor started an investigation into the contract due to the involvement of Saab, the part-BAE-owned manufacturers of Gripen aircraft. Czech police re-opened their inquiries.¹⁷

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[1] World Rank is from the 2006 top 100 taken from Defense News Top 100 July 2007

[2] CAAT Publications – Arms Fairs, DSEI (2003), http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/armsfairs/dsei-2003-report/baes.php, Accessed 5/11/07

[3] As used on the famous Nelson Mandela, Thomas, 2006, Ebury Press pp212-222

[4] The Guardian, 7/6/2007, David Leigh & Rob Evans, “BAE Systems Profile”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/07/bae.baesystemsbusiness

[5] CorporateWatch – BAE systems, A corporate Profile 2003, http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=182

[6] CAAT, 6/2005, Harald Molgaard, “Arms exports and collaborations: the UK and Israel”

[7] Danger room, 4/10/07, Sharon Weinberger, “How Israel spoofed syria’s air defense system”, http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/how-israel-spoo.html

[8] The Guardian 6/5/2008, David Leigh & Sadie Gray, “BAE paid too little heed to ethics, says report” http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/06/baesystemsbusiness.armstrade

[9] The Guardian 27/2/2007, David Leigh & Rob Evans, “BAE to reveal source of leak on legal advice” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/27/bae.armstrade

[10] The Times 28/9/2003, “How the woman at No 27 ran spy network for arms firm” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1163959.ece

[11] The Guardian 11/9/2003, David Leigh & Rob Evans, “BAE accused of arms deal slush fund” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/sep/11/bae.freedomofinformation

[12] High Court Judgement, http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/04/10/judgment_corner_house_100408.pdf

[13] Guardian 31/7/2008 “’He was confronted by an ugly and unwelcome threat’”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/31/bae.armstrade2

[14] Guardian 17/10/2008, Andrew Sparrow, “Government condemned for failure to tackle bribery”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/17/5

[15] Mail and Guardian 12/1/2009, Sam Sole and Nic Dawes, “BAE’s web of influence in South Africa” http://www.mg.co.za/article/2007-01-12-baes-web-of-influence-in-south-africa

[16] The Guardian, 6/12/2008, David Leigh and Rob Evans, “BAE accused of £100 m secret payments in South Africa arms deal” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/06/bae-arms-trade

[17] A seriously funny attempt to get the Serious Fraud Office in the dock! September 2007, Campaign Against the Arms Trade

[18] The Guardian, 13/2/07, George Monbiot, “The Parallel universe of BAE: covert, dangerous and beyond the rule of law, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/feb/13/bae.foreignpolicy

Arms Companies at the Engineering Fair

There are a number of arms companies attending the “Engineering and Technology Fair” on the 8^th of November. The University careers service recommends that you find out as much about the companies attending as you can, we feel that this is a very reasonable suggestion therefore to help out with information on the arms companies attending the careers fair that the companies and the careers service probably will not include in their recruitment pitch. For this leaflet an arms company has been defined as company who designs or manufactures products specifically for the military application.

BAE systems

3^rd Largest Arms Manufacturer in the World. Largest UK arms Company. £13.7 billion sales, £11.8 billion military sales, 83% military[1]. 6 Ongoing Corruption investigations in the UK (not including the Serious Fraud Office inquiry into the Al Yamamah Saudi deal, stopped by the government). Less than 20% of BAE’s sales are to the UK[2]. In September 2003 The Sunday Times reported that BAE had hired a private security contractor to collate information about individuals working at the Campaign Against Arms Trade and their activities. In February 2007, it again obtained private confidential information from CAAT. In September 2005 The Guardian alleged that banking records showed that BAE paid £1 million to Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator.

Products include: Assault rifles and handguns (H&K), Combat Aircraft, Nuclear weapons (via MBDA), Missiles, Artillery Guns, Munitions, Armoured Vehicles, Tanks, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Warships, Radar Systems, Nuclear Submarines and shackles used in Guantanamo Bay and Saudi Arabia (from their subsidiary Hiatts[3]).

Military customers of note include the UK, US, Israel, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia (Hawk Jets sold during the violent repression of East Timor), India, Pakistan, Tanzania, Lebanon, Poland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Romania, Chile, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Columbia, Egypt, Ghana, Afghanistan, Brazil, Columbia, Qatar, Algeria (via Qatar)[4], Malaysia, Kenya, Czech Republic, Sweden, Morocco (including attempting to secure a deal in the conflict area of Western Sahara), Greece, Germany, Italy, Austria, Australia, Finland, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Uruguay, Vietnam,

Park Air Systems (Northrop Grumman)

4^th Largest Arms Manufacturer in the World¹. Total sales for 2006 US$30.1 billion, 90% military sales[5]. A 1999 lawsuit accuses Northrop of knowingly giving the Navy defective drones from 1988 to 1998 and seeks $210 million in damages. A 1992 case filed in Illinois questions how Northrop accounted for “scrap” parts, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That suit seeks $113 million in damages. Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz, Vice-Presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby, Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim, and Sean O’Keefe, director of NASA all former Northrop officials, consultants, or shareholders currently holding positions in the Bush administration[6]. Also Northrop recently lost a previously acquired $35bn refuelling tanker contract with the US Air Force after complaints of illegal bidding practices[7].

Products include: Advanced Radar Systems, Missile Defence Systems, High-Energy Laser Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Ship Systems, Mission Systems. Specific work include: managing, operating and providing infrastructure support for the Nevada nuclear testing site, B2 Stealth Bomber, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, Kinetic Energy inceptor missile shields, Military Satellites, Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, Fire scout unmanned attack helicopter, F-5 Freedom Fighter, T-38 Talon, 25% of the Parts for the F-35 Lightning, Zumwalt class destroyer, Nimitz class aircraft carrier, Virginia class attack submarine, Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier, Aegis Class guided missile destroyer, numerous amphibious assault vessels, Night Vision Goggles[8], Northrop’s subsidiary Vinnell Corporation was replaced after failing to fulfil its $48 million contract to train the Iraqi Army.

Military customers include US, China, Israel, Russia, Iran, Morocco, Chile, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya , Venezuela , Brazil, Kenya , Turkey , Jordan, Singapore, , Kuwait, Ethiopia, Malaysia, , Bahrain, South Korea, , Germany, Portugal, Philippines, Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia, Yemen, Vietnam, Australia, Canada and the UK.

Thales

11^th Largest Arms Manufacturers in the World, second largest UK Arms Company. Approximately $7 million in military sales, 50% of business is Military.[9]

Military Products include: Air Defence Systems, Missile Systems, Surveillance Systems, Submarines, Helicopters, Communication Systems, Patrol Vessels, Combat Systems, Radar Systems and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Thales also specialises in electronics for many types of military vehicles including tanks, aircraft and warships. Thales claims to be ‘present on all types of air, sea and ground military platforms’.[10] On a side note Thales has also won contracts for the National Identity Card system in the UK.

Thales is prime contractor for the Sawari 2 programme, which involves supplying three frigates to Saudi Arabia equipped with the Arabel multi-function anti-air fire control radar and Aster missile system.[11] In Indonesia and Japan Thales has won contracts for maritime patrol systems. Thales is prime contractor for electronic warfare systems for naval vessels and was selected by Brunei for its Waspada ships and by the UK for “Type 45” destroyers.[12] Shorts Missile Systems, which is now owned by Thales, has delivered over 60,000 missiles to 56 armed forces worldwide[13].[14] Thales is also implicated (as well as EADS) in selling the “Advanced Light Helicopter” to Burma (via India)¹³ and licensed production of night-vision equipment to China (despite an EU embargo), Thales has also allegedly sold arms to Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Columbia.

QinetiQ

27^th Largest arms manufacturer in the world, 3^rd Largest UK arms company. £1 billion arms sales per year, 83% Military sales.

Products include: Combat Vehicle Systems (vehicle sensors, displays, power systems), Ballistic missile defence systems (navigation, guidance, detection systems), aircraft maintenance & repair, pilot Equipment (Helmets), Missile Systems, Close Combat Systems (small arms, cannons, infantry systems), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Communication Systems, Surveillance Systems[15]

Military sales include the US, UK, Israel (Joint Strike Fighter), Turkey, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands and the Philippines.[16]

AWE

AWE makes and maintains the UK’s nuclear weapons. AWE is 1/3 owned by the US company Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest arms company, 1/3 by the UK firm Serco, and 1/3 by the UK government owned BNFL. The BNFL 1/3 is currently in the process of being sold to either the US firm Jacobs or Fluor. AWE was in the news in 2006 by its attempts to circumvent nuclear testing treaties by developing a new “Reliable Replacement Warhead”, according to Matrix Chambers; this may be a material breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. By continuing to possess and make new nuclear weapons, Britain is failing to comply with its obligations to disarm under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which it signed in 1968. The Trident replacement programme to build a new generation of nuclear deterrents is thought to cost the UK taxpayer £75bn over 50 years[17].

MBDA

Part of 8^th Largest Arms Manufacturer in the World (owned by EADS, BAE and Marconi), 100% Military, Largest manufacturers of guided missiles in the world. Products include Air to air, Surface to air, Air to surface, Anti-ship and Anti-Tank missile. MBDA missiles are also manufactured to carry nuclear warheads.

MBDA boasts over 70 customers worldwide including the US, UK, Israel, Saudi Arabia, China, Chile, Indonesia, Iran, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Morocco, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Iraq (to Saddam), Kuwait, Libya, Venezuela, Ecuador, Singapore, Columbia, South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Zambia, Oman, Turkey, South Korea, Poland.

DSTL

DSTL is owned and operated by the Ministry of Defence; it is a hugely secretive organisation that works on high tech military products.

DSTL specialise in biological and chemical warfare, working with anthrax and highly toxic poisons. Their Porton Down site is notorious for testing LSD on armed forces volunteers without their permission and testing the effects of mustard gas on people from different nationalities to study the damage on those with different ethnicities.

Airbus

Airbus is a subsidiary of EADS, the 7^th largest arms company worldwide. Airbus also manufactures military products itself, mainly transport and refuelling aircraft.

Products include the A400M tactical transport aircraft, the Multi-Role Tanker Transport and the KC-45 refuelling aircraft.

Customers include the US, United Arab Emirate, Turkey, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Jaguar Land-Rover

Land Rover’s Defender 4×4 is used for both civilian and military purposes around the world. Land Rover claims to have 70,000 of its vehicles in use around the world[18]. Land Rovers can be found with the militaries and security forces in Zimbabwe, Sudan[19], Israel and UK.

Detica

Detica is owned by BAE systems (92% controlling stake. Detica provides consultancy, customized technology, and knowledge management services to government and corporate clients in the defence, homeland security, counterterrorism, intelligence, and Federal markets sectors. BAE believes the UK ‘homeland security and resilience market’ will double to more than £3bn by 2011 and looks to cash in on this[20].

Atkins

£100m in yearly revenues from military contracts. Atkins provides consultancy services to private arms companies and the MoD. Atkins’ projects include the Rolls Royce made Nuclear reactors for submarines, “Type 45 Destroyer” warships made by BAE systems, military aircraft with QinetiQ and Boeing and armoured vehicles made working with DSTL. The Type 45 Destroyer is sold to Saudi Arabia.[21]

Amec

Provides project management services for military services around the world. AMEC has worked with the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and has interests in nuclear weapons. AMEC has many contracts building and maintaining military facilities around the world regardless of their usage. Military customers include the UK, US, Iraq, Canada, Eastern Europe, Pacific rim and the Middle East.

Tessella

Tessella produces bespoke products for numerous arms companies including working on systems in the new “Type 45 Anti-Air Warfare destroyers” working directly for BAE systems. Tessella is also involved in nuclear experimentation with contract for the JET fusion reactor and Sellafield.

Tessella’s clients include BAE systems, EADS, AWE, British Nuclear Group, Lockheed Martin, MOD, Thales and various Oil companies including Total (Currently Operating in Burma).

IPL

IPL specialises in software products for arms companies and the MoD. IPL products include software for the Merlin Helicopter used for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare roles. IPL supplies EADS with bespoke software (EADS is the 7^th largest arms manufacturer in the world[22]).

Infosys

Infosys provides consultancy on manufacturing, design and information technology areas of the defence industry.

Special Metals Wiggin

Special Metals is a world leader in the invention, production and supply of the high-nickel, high-performance alloys used for the difficult jobs in engineering. Its high strength alloys are specified for military supersonic aircraft, helicopters and spacecraft as well as marine applications for military ships and submarines.

Lloyd’s Register

Lloyds Register provides management and technical consultancy services to navies around the world, Lloyds register also consults on defence procurement[23]. Lloyds Register has provided consultancy for arms companies such as Thales[24]. Lloyds Register provides maintenance services for marine vessels including military craft as well as advising on technical design issues.

Morgan Professional Services

Morgan Professional Services provides design, engineering and project management services. Projects include a floating submarine jetty for the MOD at Faslane nuclear submarine base and home of the UK’s nuclear arms.

For more information see weaponsoutofwarwick.wordpress.com

Or the facebook group Weapons out of Warwick

Please recycle this leaflet

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[1] World Rank is from the 2006 top 100 taken from Defense News Top 100 July 2007

[2] CAAT Publications – Arms Fairs, DSEI (2003), http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/armsfairs/dsei-2003-report/baes.php, Accessed 5/11/07

[3] As used on the famous Nelson Mandela, Thomas, 2006, Ebury Press pp212-222

[4] CorporateWatch – BAE systems, A corporate Profile 2003, http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=182

[5] Publications – Northrop Grumman, http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/companies/northrop.php, Accessed 1/11/08

[6] Corpwatch: Northrop Gumman, http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=11 accessed 1/11/08

[7] The Times 11/9/08

[8] Northrop Grumman capabilities brochure

[9] CAAT Publications – Thales, http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/companies/thales.php , Accessed 7/10/07

[10] www.thalesgroup.com/ga/business_zone/defence/home.htm , Accessed 24/8/03

[11] www.thalesgroup.com/ga/business_zone/defence/naval.htm, accessed 24/08/03

[12] www.thalesgroup.com/ga/business_zone/defence/airborne.htm, accessed 24/08/03

[13] www.thalesgroup.co.uk/ga/business_zone/defence/AirDefence.htm, accessed 13/08/03

[14] http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/companies/thales2003.php, accessed 7/10/07

[15] CAAT Publications – QinetiQ, http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/companies/qinetiq.php , Accessed 5/11/07

[16] QinetiQ Annual report 2007, http://www.investis.com/reports/qntq_ar_2007_en/report.php? , Accessed 5/11/07

[17] Time for a real review of defence spending, Robert Fox, Guardian Comment is free, 4/9/08

[18] Army Technology Website – Land Rover http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/vehicles/ landrover/accesssed 1/10/08

[19] “British firm breaks Sudan arms boycott” Jon Swain & Brian Johnson Thomas Sunday Times, 22/4/2007

[20] Financial Times 29/7/08

[21] “UK seek £2bn Saudi destroyer contract”, Michael Harrison, The Independent, Published 9/3/2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2341426.ece , Accessed 14/10/07

[22] CAAT Publications –EADS, http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/companies/eads.php , Accessed 14/10/07

[23] Lloyds Register Website – “Sectors We Serve – Defence”, http://www.lr.org/Industries/Defence, Accessed 5/11/07

[24] LRQA Website – Case Studies, Thales, http://www.lr.org/Industries/LRQA/Case+studies/Thales.htm, Accessed 5/11/07

The UK arms industry

When campaigning against the arms trade, I’ve always found it interesting how few people disagree with the moral case we’re making. Discounting those few rare souls who see the production of weaponry, in itself, as a morally worthy activity, the general opinion tends to be one of resigned acceptance. That there is a demand for such weaponry is seen to be a sad fact of life and that supplying this demand benefits our economy an unfortunate boon. After all, if we didn’t do it, surely someone else would?

Yet the initial perception of inevitability demands examination. Certainly, leaving aside more utopian aspirations, we can accept armed conflict as a sad fact of global politics. Yet the vast industrial and commercial machinery which exists to service this demand is no such given. The arms industry is not just supported by government (as, perhaps, one might expect to happen with regards to any major industry) but is in fact subsidised to a rather considerable degree. The full extent of the subsidy is estimated to stand at up to £890 million per year. Given around 65000 people working in the arms trade within the UK, this roughly amounts of each job costing the tax payer over £13000 a year in subsidy. Until this year when, hopefully as a sign of things to come, Gordon Brown announced the decision to close it, the defence export service organisation (DESO) existed within Government solely to market and sell UK arms. Employing nearly 500 civil servants within the Ministry of Defence, the head of DESO was a post always filled by an arms industry executive with a portion of his salary ‘topped up’ by the arms industry. Could you imagine the outcry if the department of health had a similar organisation working within it at the taxpayers expense to promote pharmaceutical sale? Yet DESO was sadly indicative of the connections between government and arms industry and they extend far beyond it.

The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) uses £180 million of taxpayer’s money each year to underwrite arms deals abroad. If a foreign buyer fails to pay the British company supplying them, the ECGD (or, we could say, the British taxpayer) will cover the cost. Then the cost to the ECGD will be added onto the buyer nation’s national debt. 95% of the debt owed directly to the UK by developing countries comes from the ECGD. The tax payer is charged millions and developing countries impoverished, all in the name of granting the arms industry a commercial privilege denied to other industries and surely contrary to the conceptions of free trade which dominate international economics. There are numerous other means by which the tax payer ends up footing the bill of arms trade subsidies (research and development, distortion of MoD procurement, defence attaches) yet these are beyond the scope of the present article. What’s important is to note the extent to which the arms industry is not an unfortunate fact of life but is rather actively promoted and supported by the British government at the taxpayer’s expenses. Nor is it the cornerstone of the British economy it’s presented as being. Only 0.2% of total employment is within the arms industry and at the equivalent of over £13000 a year in subsidy per job that 0.2% represents a disproportionate drain on the public purse. Likewise, arms exports only account for 1.8% of total exports yet through £180 million incurred by the ECGD each year these too amount to a disproportionate drain on the government’s resources.

Many arms trade campaigners are arguing for nothing more radical than the end of these subsidies: the arms industry isn’t so central to the nation’s economic vitality that it deserves this cosseted pride of place. The arms industry should compete in the same way as other industries. The promotion of arms exports is not necessary. Nor, crucially, is it right. More than simply being bad public policy, these subsidies serve to fuel and industry that largely exists to produce products that kill people. Until the final closure of DESO, the British tax-payer’s money will be paying for the promotion of arms fairs to drum up demand amongst nations, many of whose populations go hungry while their leaders shop for arms. Certainly, you can say, if we didn’t do it someone else would. Yet take that moral logic and apply it to any other area and it rapidly seems obviously absurd. Promoting the arms trade doesn’t become the right thing to do simply because not doing it doesn’t make it go away.