Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems -- US obtains Swiss records and flies in British witness

http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2217144,00.html

US obtains Swiss records and flies in British witness in BAE investigation

US corruption investigators have gone behind the back of Downing Street to fly a British witness to Washington to testify about Saudi arms deals with the UK arms firm BAE Systems, the Guardian can disclose. In a hitherto secret move, Swiss federal prosecutors have also agreed to hand over to Washington financial records linked to the Saudi royal family.

The US is seeking - but has so far been refused - more than a million pages of documents seized from BAE, its bankers, Lloyds TSB, and the Ministry of Defence during an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the US, who says there was no impropriety about a £1bn payment he received for brokering arms deals with BAE, has hired a former head of the FBI and a retired British high court judge to defend his position. The British government has been attempting to block all investigations into payments from BAE to members of the Saudi regime.

British ministers are refusing to grant a six-month-old official request from the US department of justice for mutual legal assistance, in defiance of the UK's anti-bribery treaty obligations. This follows the suppression of Britain's own Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was abandoned last year on the grounds that the inquiry might jeopardise national security. The move, following Tony Blair's intervention, infuriated anti-corruption campaigners.



Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems


http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2192611,00.html
Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems


Nils Pratley
Wednesday October 17, 2007
The Guardian


The boardroom dynamics of BAE Systems are hard to read at the best of times, but the natural reading of chief executive Mike Turner's departure seems clear: he was pushed.
The killer quote was provided by Turner in June, when he seemed to pitch publicly for an extension. "I'm a fairly young guy," he said. "I've been through some difficult times a few years ago, but the company is in great shape. Why would I want to stop now?"


Why indeed? He is 59, has worked at the company since his teenage years, and retirement age at BAE is 65. Turner himself says he will now look for a job elsewhere, albeit in a non-executive role. It's not as if shareholders were demanding change. The shares have performed wonderfully in recent years, a fact that usually baffles those who only associate BAE with allegations of bribery.
On the business front, Turner did well. He weathered the rows with the Ministry of Defence over the costs of the Nimrod aircraft and Astute submarine programmes. His single-minded vision for expansion - more American assets - was controversial, but successful. Becoming the world's biggest builder of armoured vehicles, from an American base, has paid off handsomely thanks to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So why's he going? It looks as if winds of change are blowing through BAE. Chris Geoghegan and Steve Mogford, co-chief operating officers, have already resigned this year, so Turner's exit next August means members of BAE's old guard are becoming harder to spot.

New faces might be deemed desirable at this point: the US department of justice is still investigating allegations that BAE paid bribes to Saudi officials. BAE says its relationship with the US government is unaffected, but it's also its job to ensure that's always the case.

Was chairman Dick Olver behind Turner's departure? Was it a boardroom coup? There is sometimes danger in smelling conspiracy at BAE. On this occasion, the stench is powerful.




http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1692996

BAE brings in a pair of Army contracts


http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/08/27/daily5.html

A New Hampshire-based defense contractor reports it has won an $8 million federal research grant to develop a power amplifier for the U.S. Army.

A Merrimack, N.H., BAE Systems Inc. site is scheduled to develop a 160-watt gallium nitride amplifier to power communications and radar systems. The grant was awarded to BAE by the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, based in Fort Monmouth, N.J. BAE is expected to share the grant with Virginia-based materials science company Rohm and Haas Co. and the University of Colorado.


In a separate development, a Massachusetts-based unit of BAE reports it plans to develop night vision goggles for the U.S. Army for an undisclosed contract amount. The Program Executive Office Solider, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., commissioned the work, according to company officials.

BAE Systems Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of United Kingdom-based BAE Systems PLC. BAE Systems Inc. is headquartered in Rockville, Md. BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Inc., a business unit of BAE Systems, is based in Nashua, N.H. BAE Systems PLC employs 88,000 workers worldwide and reported 2006 annual sales of $25 billion. The largest North American BAE operating group is the Electronics & Integrated Solutions group.


BAE already has an order from India for 66 BAE Hawk trainers, 42 of which are being built there.
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:07 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aIVNGXZDbsww&refer=india

BAE Systems to Develop Enhanced Night-Vision Goggle For U.S. Army


http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070827005480&newsLang=en


LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems will design and develop a digitally enhanced night-vision goggle as part of the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants.

The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. This digital technology will provide improved image quality and will enable imagery to be shared among soldiers, improving platoon effectiveness.

“This program will demonstrate the maturity and effectiveness of digital fusion technology and its benefit to the warfighter,” said Margaret Kohin, Advanced Systems program director for BAE Systems in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Applying innovative technology to help our soldiers complete their missions is an objective BAE Systems stands behind every day.”

The contract is managed by the Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

BAE Systems will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR® microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle. This technology also is used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army. BAE Systems has two microbolometer foundries and has delivered more than 50,000 microbolometer-based imagers to date.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings Inc. for the whole of 2006.

1692661, $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles

http://www.thestreet.com/s/merger-bolsters-bae/newsanalysis/general/10375090.html?puc=googlefi

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With its huge buyout of Armor Holdings, U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (BAESY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) may have very well gotten more than its money's worth.

Notably, just weeks before that transaction closed, Armor landed a surprise $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles. With similar MRAP business of its own, BAE has suddenly burst forward as a new leader in the multibillion-dollar MRAP game.

This story is the fourth installment in TheStreet.com's five-part series examining the top players in the multibillion-dollar MRAP bidding.

"In 2007 to date, BAE plus AH have captured ... No. 1 market share -- ahead of Force Protection (FRPT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and International Military and Government," a unit of Navistar (NAVZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), noted JPMorgan analyst Harry Breach, whose firm has investment banking ties to BAE. Moreover, "we believe that further MRAP awards are likely later this year."

BAE demos DSL-esque military radio protocol
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:13 PM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/bae_dsl_via_link_16 /

According to BAE, "the demonstration included Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, Voice over IP, mobile ad-hoc networking, streaming video, and imagery."

The share price of BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, has risen 225 per cent.


http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article2337229.ece

Symon Hill, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “We think that most of the British public will object to the idea that these companies are profiting from war. While Iraqi civilians and British soldiers are dying, there are companies profiting from it.”

Accusations of making money from war are seen as unfair by the businessmen who run Britain’s defence industry. While the industry in the United States is loaded with former generals and admirals, British executives tend to be engineers or entrepreneurs. They are not career soldiers and get frustrated when they are presented as warmongers.

Revealed: official passes that give BAE access to the top at the MoD



http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2149644,00.html

Incestuous' relationship must end, says MP
Lobbyist among 38 given free access to ministry

Rob Evans and David Leigh
Thursday August 16, 2007
The Guardian


The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed.
The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government. The MoD is refusing to disclose the names of the BAE employees with the official passes, or why they were given them, saying the information would breach their privacy and security. However, it is known that one has been held by BAE's chief lobbyist, Julian Scopes. The pass gave him access to the top levels of the ministry, enabling him to lobby ministers and senior officials and promote BAE's commercial interests.

BAE - $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems,


http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/media-type/html/user/anon/page/default.psml/js_panename/News+Information+Article+View ;jsessionid=1DC948DE7A201E05F88DA8A5F1D73E43.tomcat2?articleid=81859&showfull=false


BAE Systems Receives Navy Basic Ordering Agreement for Weapons and Support Services
(2007-08-24)
By: Copyright Business Wire 2007 , Business Wire

BAE Systems has received a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) from the U.S. Navy for up to $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems, and provide support services over the next five years. Potential orders received under this BOA are expected later this year and will be carried out by BAE Systems' facilities in Minneapolis and Louisville.

"This agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to serve the U.S. Navy and provide our sailors with critical naval weapon systems and support services," said Dennis Morris, BAE Systems' president of Armament Systems.

The BOA covers a wide range of BAE Systems' programs including the transition of production of the Mk 110 57mm naval gun system; the overhaul, manufacture and upgrade of the Mk 45 5-inch naval gun for the Cruiser Modernization program, the Mk 75 76mm gun mount, the Mk 42 extended range guided missile handling mechanism, the Mk 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes (SVTT), and the Mk 36/53 decoy launcher systems (DLS); the manufacture of gun barrels; the overhaul of turbine pump ejection systems (TPES); and work associated with minor caliber guns.

"This BOA demonstrates to us that our employees have been successful in meeting the customer's needs -- and that's our priority - delivering solutions on time and on budget," said Morris.


BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier ELECTRONIC WARFARE

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/NEWS_2007/AUG_07/BAE_230807.htm

BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier
UK-based aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems says that its Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS) business in Merrimack, NH, USA has been awarded an $8m contract from the US Army Communications-Electronics Command to develop a 160 Watt gallium nitride power amplifier for communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Partnering BAE Systems on the program are materials supplier Rohm and Haas of Blacksburg, VI, USA and the University of Colorado.

The solid-state technology will replace the older traveling-wave vacuum tubes that are currently used to produce high-power radio frequency signals, and are intended to aid warfighters by more effectively disrupting enemy communications and radar signals, while protecting friendly communications.

“DARPA has identified BAE Systems’ GaN technology as an important material for future military applications in electronic warfare, radar, and air-to-ground, air-to-satellite, and ground-to-ground communications systems,” says Dr John Evans, the manager for DARPA’s Disruptive Manufacturing Technology program (through which it solicits proposals to reduce cost and time for production of military components). BAE Systems was chosen from among 40 bidders.

“Using this technology, we can develop systems that are significantly less expensive, more reliable, and lower in weight,” says Tony Immorlica, program manager of microwave device programs at BAE Systems. The first prototypes could be deployed by the end of the decade

Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program


http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20070822005666/bae-systems-congressional-community-and-army-leaders-celebrate-inauguration-of-elgi.html

BAE Systems, Congressional, Community and Army Leaders Celebrate Inauguration of Elgin Site
ELGIN, Okla.-(Business Wire)-August 22, 2007 - BAE Systems held a special inaugural ceremony in Elgin, Oklahoma to initiate work on BAE Systems - Elgin Operations, a 150,000 square-foot facility. The BAE Systems - Elgin Operations facility will be built by the city of Elgin in the Ft. Sill Industrial Park, and is scheduled to open in early 2009. Work at the new facility will initially focus on production integration and assembly of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.



Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iuFyWX3Rz8

Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jIPMQSpiiE
Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dclFejuvrwg
An exclusive interview with one of Britain's leading investigative journalists and a former insider, the Trail of the Dove reveals the extent of surcharges, commissions and the $100 millon secret fund used by the UK's leading arms firm, BAE Systems, to grease the wheels of the biggest arms deals in British history.

Al-Yamamah 'The Dove' is the name of a series of massive arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia. It is Britain's largest ever export agreement, and the prime contractor has been BAE Systems and its predecessor British Aerospace, which earned £43 billion in 20 years.

Both the UK's National Audit Office (report never released) and The Serious Fraud Office (halted) conducted investigations into corruption allegations. Trail of the Dove has also had access to ministry of defence secret documents and ambassadorial official correspondence that shows the level of corruption in the British arms trade.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWwdJpJkyKg
Former Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan received hundreds of millions of pounds in secret payments from Britain's top defence manufacturer with the knowledge of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, according to the BBC.
The payments made by BAE Systems were actually a conduit to Bandar for his role in the multi-billion al-Yamamah arms agreement, Britain's biggest ever export deal signed in 1985, the state-funded broadcaster said it had learned Thursday.
The alleged bribes were said to have been discovered during a year-long inquiry conducted by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), but which was abruptly halted last December after Blair said the investigation was a threat to national security.
The dropping of the investigation also came amid concerns that it might jeopardize a new multi-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia to supply Eurofighters.
The BBC said that the payments, believed to total more than Pnds one billion (Dlrs 1.9 bn), were sent to two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington, were written into the government-to-government arms deal contract in secret annexes.
Allegations previously made in the British press have also suggested that Mark Thatcher, son of the British prime minister at the time, was also involved in the deal.
The al-Yamamah deal included the supply of more than 100 Tornado aircraft and is estimated to have been worth over Pnds 40 billion (Dlrs 78 bn) over more than a decade.
The new claims, to be made in the BBC's current affairs Panorama programme next Monday prompted the head of parliament's committee which investigates strategic exports, Labour MP Roger Berry, to call for a proper investigation into the allegations.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said that if ministers in either the present or previous governments were involved there should be a "major parliamentary inquiry".
"It is one thing for a company to have engaged in alleged corruption overseas. It is another thing if British government ministers have approved it," Cable said. (more) (less)






New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tibaAAS5Zk
New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMnIBMm9HBQ
New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEwJ72VCrzI
NOW WE KNOW WHY:- Tony Blair has defended the government's decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) investigation into alleged bribery surrounding BAE Systems' contracts with Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister told the House of Commons continuing the investigation would have damaged the UK's relationship with Saudi Arabia.

However, he refuted allegations the attorney general Lord Goldsmith had attempted to block a subsequent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) investigation as "completely and totally unfair and wrong".

It had been alleged Lord Goldsmith had warned officials not to disclose information to the OECD investigation.

Quizzed in prime minister's questions, Mr Blair defended the decision not to pursue an inquiry.

He said: "First of all these allegations are strenuously denied by the Saudi royal family, secondly if we were then going to conduct an investigation then that might last two, three years into these allegations that frankly I think would lead absolutely nowhere.

"What it would lead to is the complete wreckage of a relationship that is of fundamental importance of the security of this country, to the state of the Middle East, and to our relationship with countries in the Middle East."

Mr Blair continued: "I was asked for my advice as to what damage this investigation would do if it continued. I gave that advice because of the huge importance of working with Saudi Arabia on the Middle East peace process, on counter-terrorism, on the situation in the Middle East.




BAE Systems Receives $12.5 Million Contract to Provide Emergency Escape Windows To U.S. Army

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070829005442&newsLang=en

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems announced today it received a $12.5 million contract to provide 1000 Vehicle Emergency Escape (VEE) Window kits plus 2,000 spare VEE Window panels to the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) for use on the up-armored M1114 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).

“It’s important that our soldiers have the best equipment available to keep them safe on the battlefield,” said Dennis Morris, president, BAE Systems, Armament Systems. “The VEE Window is a cost-effective, life-saving tool for enhancing the safety of crews riding in up-armored vehicles in dangerous combat zones where rollovers and accidents are a significant threat.”

The VEE Window is a simple technology developed by BAE Systems that allows crews of the HMMWVs to remove the ballistic windshields in less than five seconds and quickly exit the vehicle during an emergency, such as a rollover or accident. The VEE Window meets current M1114 ballistic properties and will be installed by unit maintenance personnel in theater.

The VEE Window was approved for the M1114 HMMWV following a series of performance and safety tests conducted this summer by the Army at its Aberdeen Test Center. The tests evaluated the effectiveness of the device, as well as the window’s overall structural integrity and operational effectiveness in a rollover or accident-like scenario. The VEE Window kits will be delivered to Army personnel in November.

BAE Systems is exploring VEE Window applications for other tactical and armored vehicles, including M1151/1152 HMMWVs, the Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, and the U.S. Marine Corps’ Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle programs.


BAE brings in a pair of Army contracts
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/08/27/daily5.html

A New Hampshire-based defense contractor reports it has won an $8 million federal research grant to develop a power amplifier for the U.S. Army.

A Merrimack, N.H., BAE Systems Inc. site is scheduled to develop a 160-watt gallium nitride amplifier to power communications and radar systems. The grant was awarded to BAE by the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, based in Fort Monmouth, N.J. BAE is expected to share the grant with Virginia-based materials science company Rohm and Haas Co. and the University of Colorado.


In a separate development, a Massachusetts-based unit of BAE reports it plans to develop night vision goggles for the U.S. Army for an undisclosed contract amount. The Program Executive Office Solider, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., commissioned the work, according to company officials.

BAE Systems Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of United Kingdom-based BAE Systems PLC. BAE Systems Inc. is headquartered in Rockville, Md. BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Inc., a business unit of BAE Systems, is based in Nashua, N.H. BAE Systems PLC employs 88,000 workers worldwide and reported 2006 annual sales of $25 billion. The largest North American BAE operating group is the Electronics & Integrated Solutions group.


BAE already has an order from India for 66 BAE Hawk trainers, 42 of which are being built there.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aIVNGXZDbsww&refer=india

BAE Systems to Develop Enhanced Night-Vision Goggle For U.S. Army

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070827005480&newsLang=en


LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems will design and develop a digitally enhanced night-vision goggle as part of the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants.

The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. This digital technology will provide improved image quality and will enable imagery to be shared among soldiers, improving platoon effectiveness.

“This program will demonstrate the maturity and effectiveness of digital fusion technology and its benefit to the warfighter,” said Margaret Kohin, Advanced Systems program director for BAE Systems in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Applying innovative technology to help our soldiers complete their missions is an objective BAE Systems stands behind every day.”

The contract is managed by the Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

BAE Systems will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR® microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle. This technology also is used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army. BAE Systems has two microbolometer foundries and has delivered more than 50,000 microbolometer-based imagers to date.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings Inc. for the whole of 2006.


$519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles

http://www.thestreet.com/s/merger-bolsters-bae/newsanalysis/general/10375090.html?puc=googlefi

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With its huge buyout of Armor Holdings, U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (BAESY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) may have very well gotten more than its money's worth.

Notably, just weeks before that transaction closed, Armor landed a surprise $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles. With similar MRAP business of its own, BAE has suddenly burst forward as a new leader in the multibillion-dollar MRAP game.

This story is the fourth installment in TheStreet.com's five-part series examining the top players in the multibillion-dollar MRAP bidding.

"In 2007 to date, BAE plus AH have captured ... No. 1 market share -- ahead of Force Protection (FRPT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and International Military and Government," a unit of Navistar (NAVZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), noted JPMorgan analyst Harry Breach, whose firm has investment banking ties to BAE. Moreover, "we believe that further MRAP awards are likely later this year."



BAE demos DSL-esque military radio protocol
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/bae_dsl_via_link_16 /

According to BAE, "the demonstration included Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, Voice over IP, mobile ad-hoc networking, streaming video, and imagery."

The share price of BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, has risen 225 per cent.
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:16 PM

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article2337229.ece

Symon Hill, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “We think that most of the British public will object to the idea that these companies are profiting from war. While Iraqi civilians and British soldiers are dying, there are companies profiting from it.”

Accusations of making money from war are seen as unfair by the businessmen who run Britain’s defence industry. While the industry in the United States is loaded with former generals and admirals, British executives tend to be engineers or entrepreneurs. They are not career soldiers and get frustrated when they are presented as warmongers.


Revealed: official passes that give BAE access to the top at the MoD

http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2149644,00.html

Incestuous' relationship must end, says MP
Lobbyist among 38 given free access to ministry

Rob Evans and David Leigh
Thursday August 16, 2007
The Guardian


The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed.
The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government. The MoD is refusing to disclose the names of the BAE employees with the official passes, or why they were given them, saying the information would breach their privacy and security. However, it is known that one has been held by BAE's chief lobbyist, Julian Scopes. The pass gave him access to the top levels of the ministry, enabling him to lobby ministers and senior officials and promote BAE's commercial interests.


BAE - $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems,
http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/media-type/html/use ... ;jsessionid=1DC948DE7A201E05F88DA8A5F1D73E43.tomcat2?articleid=81859&showfull=false


BAE Systems Receives Navy Basic Ordering Agreement for Weapons and Support Services
(2007-08-24)
By: Copyright Business Wire 2007 , Business Wire

BAE Systems has received a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) from the U.S. Navy for up to $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems, and provide support services over the next five years. Potential orders received under this BOA are expected later this year and will be carried out by BAE Systems' facilities in Minneapolis and Louisville.

"This agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to serve the U.S. Navy and provide our sailors with critical naval weapon systems and support services," said Dennis Morris, BAE Systems' president of Armament Systems.

The BOA covers a wide range of BAE Systems' programs including the transition of production of the Mk 110 57mm naval gun system; the overhaul, manufacture and upgrade of the Mk 45 5-inch naval gun for the Cruiser Modernization program, the Mk 75 76mm gun mount, the Mk 42 extended range guided missile handling mechanism, the Mk 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes (SVTT), and the Mk 36/53 decoy launcher systems (DLS); the manufacture of gun barrels; the overhaul of turbine pump ejection systems (TPES); and work associated with minor caliber guns.

"This BOA demonstrates to us that our employees have been successful in meeting the customer's needs -- and that's our priority - delivering solutions on time and on budget," said Morris.



BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier ELECTRONIC WARFARE

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/NEWS_2007/AUG_07/BAE_230807.htm

BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier
UK-based aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems says that its Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS) business in Merrimack, NH, USA has been awarded an $8m contract from the US Army Communications-Electronics Command to develop a 160 Watt gallium nitride power amplifier for communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Partnering BAE Systems on the program are materials supplier Rohm and Haas of Blacksburg, VI, USA and the University of Colorado.

The solid-state technology will replace the older traveling-wave vacuum tubes that are currently used to produce high-power radio frequency signals, and are intended to aid warfighters by more effectively disrupting enemy communications and radar signals, while protecting friendly communications.

“DARPA has identified BAE Systems’ GaN technology as an important material for future military applications in electronic warfare, radar, and air-to-ground, air-to-satellite, and ground-to-ground communications systems,” says Dr John Evans, the manager for DARPA’s Disruptive Manufacturing Technology program (through which it solicits proposals to reduce cost and time for production of military components). BAE Systems was chosen from among 40 bidders.

“Using this technology, we can develop systems that are significantly less expensive, more reliable, and lower in weight,” says Tony Immorlica, program manager of microwave device programs at BAE Systems. The first prototypes could be deployed by the end of the decade

Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program

http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20070822005666/bae-systems-congressional-community-and-army-leaders-celebrate-inauguration-of-elgi.html

BAE Systems, Congressional, Community and Army Leaders Celebrate Inauguration of Elgin Site
ELGIN, Okla.-(Business Wire)-August 22, 2007 - BAE Systems held a special inaugural ceremony in Elgin, Oklahoma to initiate work on BAE Systems - Elgin Operations, a 150,000 square-foot facility. The BAE Systems - Elgin Operations facility will be built by the city of Elgin in the Ft. Sill Industrial Park, and is scheduled to open in early 2009. Work at the new facility will initially focus on production integration and assembly of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.



BAE wins $36.3M contract from Navy


http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2007/10/29/daily2.html

BAE wins $36.3M contract from NavyMinneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Carissa Wyant Staff
BAE Systems gets $15M Army contract
LaBarge receives $5.7M BAE contract
BAE gets $8 million Army Depot contract
BAE Systems said Monday it won a $36.3 million contract from the Navy for a gun system.

The company was awarded a contract by the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center for the 62 MK 38 MOD 2 Machine Gun Systems, which will be delivered between July 2008 and June 2009.

The remote-controlled gun system is currently in service on eleven ships.

The order calls for a total of 243 systems through 2015.

BAE said the systems will be assembled and tested at its Louisville, Ky., facility.

Defense manufacturer BAE is based in Rockville, Md., with its armament-systems operations in Fridley.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071029005895&newsLang=en
BAE Systems’ Infrared Seeker Successfully Guides THAAD Interceptor to Target
KAUAI, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor – successfully guided by a BAE Systems’ infrared seeker – directly hit and destroyed an incoming target during an Oct. 26 test here at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

The test was conducted by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin, the THAAD weapon system’s prime contractor and systems integrator.

“In this test, THAAD missile intercepted its target at a higher altitude than any other test to date,” said John Watkins, BAE Systems’ THAAD program manager in Nashua, New Hampshire. “This test, combined with three previous intercepts, shows that THAAD can successfully take out an enemy ballistic missile.”

THAAD is designed to defend U.S. and allied soldiers, military assets, and population centers from the threat of ballistic missile attacks. The sophisticated system destroys enemy warheads through direct “hit-to-kill” technology. “It’s like hitting a bullet with a bullet,” Watkins said.

The BAE Systems seeker provides infrared imagery of the targeted warhead to guide the interceptor to its target. This success is part of THAAD intercept testing that will continue through 2009. Upcoming tests at the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii will be conducted against increasingly complex targets outside the earth’s atmosphere.

BAE Systems began work on seekers for missile defense in the late 1970s. Initial work on the THAAD seeker began in 1991. The seeker development program started in 2000 and is scheduled to conclude in December 2007. A manufacturing contract awarded in December 2006 will lead to the delivery of the first unit equipped in fiscal year 2009.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions, and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings, Inc. for the whole of 2006.


http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NETH06225102007-1.htm

BAE Systems and General Dynamics Sign Collaborative Agreement to Support Modernization of U.S. Army Heavy Combat Vehicles

October 25, 2007: 10:00 AM EST


WARREN and STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics , have signed a memorandum of agreement to work collaboratively in support of the U. S. Army's Heavy Brigade Combat Team modernization plan, which will upgrade, modernize and achieve commonality on BAE Systems' family of Bradley fighting vehicles and General Dynamics M1 Abrams tanks, the primary combat vehicles of the Army's Heavy Brigades.

The agreement, developed with the Army's encouragement, defines how both companies will work with the Army's Project Manager for Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and the Abrams and Bradley Product Managers, to jointly translate warfighter requirements into capabilities through collaborative design and development of common solutions. The agreement also establishes the basic process for collaborative specification and product development and provisions for the common procurement of material to support system evolution on both companies' combat vehicles.

"As the Army adds capability to the Heavy Brigade Combat Teams, they desire common solutions to reduce logistics burdens, to lower development costs, and to make Soldier training easier," said Mark Roualet, senior vice president and chief operating officer General Dynamics Land Systems. "BAE Systems and General Dynamics have responded with an agreement that harnesses the expertise of the world's premier combat-vehicle developers to provide our customers the technology and capability they require in the 21st century."

"This agreement is the natural conclusion of initiatives started under the leadership of Kevin Fahey, the Army's Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems to achieve greater commonality within the Heavy Brigade," said Raj Rajagopal, president of BAE Systems' Ground Systems business. "It is a win-win for the U.S. Army, BAE Systems and General Dynamics, and illustrates how our partnership with the Army continues to evolve and apply best industry practices to the benefit of our customer and the American taxpayer."

There are probably few here at DU who are surprised that there are war profiteers out there, who are bribing someone. Now why is there no action on Cheneyburton?

Remember this? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1529067



and this? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1281780

Greece, like Turkey, has been buying GOP Congressmen and CIA officials . . . with Saudi money, as part of an enormous multinational arms and political influence buying scheme being operated by the Saudi Royal Family in several western countries, particularly focused on the US and UK.

This is economic and political warfare. The enemy is both our main foreign banker, and the party that has been financing a nuclear-armed global jihad, allied with a rogue faction within our own intelligence services and the political party that still controls the executive branch of the U.S. Government.

This is a war they intend to win, even if they have to use our own government to destroy us.

Let's pray the Joint Chiefs and CIA mandarins play a winning hand.

jezzus

...Takes money to steal, er, MAKE money. That's it, make money.

Stealing money is the Bush Crime Family way.



Thanks for another excellent post and thread, seemslikeadream.

May it hasten the day of Justice.

From The New York Times:

...BAE generates nearly half its revenue in the United States, and it recently acquired a major supplier of armored Humvees used by American forces in Iraq. American officials who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter said the Justice Department is examining whether BAE violated domestic laws banning international bribery and money laundering. Accounts in Switzerland, the Caribbean and elsewhere are involved, and, like Britain, the United States has a strategic relationship with the Saudis that the investigation threatens...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25bae.html?ref=business



I jes' luvs my neocons. Money trumps peace, ya'know.

Chris Floyd of Empire Burlesque explains things nicely:



seemslikeadream brings up the most important subjects, like war for profit. And treason.

War is most profitable. And to our "rulers," we are but mopes and cannon fodder.



When it comes to OPEC and the BFEE, a couple billion is peanuts.

War Is a Racket

"The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed."

What a joke. That's our national security information they have access to, it's disgusting. We share with Britain, another aspect of the overly familiar relationships mentioned.

Thanks so much!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25bae.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin


By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and LOWELL BERGMAN
Published: November 25, 2007
LATE last month, five jumbo jets from Riyadh touched down at Heathrow Airport in London. They brought with them 13 members of the Saudi royal family, including King Abdullah and his retainers — and controversy. Over the last four years, the British government has been dogged by criticism of its relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is Britain’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Prince Philip of Britain in October during the king’s state visit to London. It was the first state visit by a Saudi monarch in two decades.
The state visit, the first by a Saudi monarch in 20 years, was no exception, with much of the storm centering on controversial financial ties linking the British military contracting giant, BAE Systems, to Downing Street and the desert kingdom. The leader of one major British political party boycotted King Abdullah’s visit while protesters turned out for his ceremonial carriage ride to Buckingham Palace.

Much of the debate turns on the fact that BAE made billions of dollars in clandestine and questionable payments to Saudi royals over the last 20 years as part of an $80 billion contract to supply the kingdom with advanced fighter jets and other military hardware. While the investigation of BAE’s business practices has followed a circuitous path in Britain, it has recently gained independent momentum in the United States, where the Justice Department is now investigating the company.

BAE generates nearly half its revenue in the United States, and it recently acquired a major supplier of armored Humvees used by American forces in Iraq. American officials who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter said the Justice Department is examining whether BAE violated domestic laws banning international bribery and money laundering. Accounts in Switzerland, the Caribbean and elsewhere are involved, and, like Britain, the United States has a strategic relationship with the Saudis that the investigation threatens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25bae.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin


While the BAE investigation apparently ran aground in Britain, it has gained enough interest in the United States to cause some of those in the middle of it to secure high-profile legal advisers. Prince Bandar, a confidant of the Bush family, recently retained the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director Louis J. Freeh, as well as one of the fathers of the F.C.P.A., the retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin, to represent him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25bae.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&ref=business

Any company with an American connection — a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, for example, or the use of an American bank account to transfer suspect payments — opens the door for prosecution under the F.C.P.A. For example, the Justice Department began investigating BAE’s payments to the Saudi royals, and Prince Bandar in particular, this year, after it learned that BAE deposited billions of dollars in such payments in American banks.

Among those institutions was Riggs Bank. Riggs, a subsidiary of the Riggs National Corporation, paid $41 million in federal penalties in 2004 and 2005 to settle a high-profile federal investigation of money-laundering violations before it was taken over by the PNC Financial Services Group. A PNC spokesman declined to comment directly on the BAE matter, but said that any possible transgressions occurred before the takeover and that Riggs was required to divest units catering to diplomats and foreign clients before the buyout.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/26/bae_slime_bypass_feds_swiss_banks_gardiner/

The Guardian reveals today that the Justice Department feds, frustrated by the UK's failure to release the vast amounts of evidence in the Serious Fraud Office files, have moved decisively to gather information on their own account. US agents have secured cooperation from Swiss authorities - a lot of money relating to the BAE deals is said to have moved via normally-secretive Swiss banks, and now a lot of information is going from there to the Justice Department.

The paper also reports that Peter Gardiner, who ran a travel company used by BAE to lavish gifts and luxury on various Saudis, has been secretly flown to Washington to give testimony by the feds. Gardiner has claimed of the services he provided for Saudi princes: "This is way beyond the lifestyle of most film stars... film stars were quite often around at the large hotels that we were visiting, but they wouldn't be living in this level of affluence."

Gardiner claimed to have channelled BAE cash to Saudi notables, as well as an endless procession of five-star hotel bookings, million-pound all-expenses holidays, expensive cars and other sweeteners. On one occasion he said he had to charter a 747 cargo plane to carry a Saudi princess's shopping home.

It appears that Gardiner travelled to Washington during the summer courtesy of the feds, going via Paris so as to avoid the notice of the British government. The US agents are also said to be working closely with Swiss prosecutors.

A Guardian source "close to the Department of Justice" said "the investigators are confident they can get what they need from Switzerland. That's where all the BAE arrangements were made."

Meanwhile, Prince Bandar has hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh to act for him in the matter.

documents requested by the Congress of you and your flunkies?

recommending.