Tag Archives: Merchants Of Death

Military technology: Laser weapons get real

Posted on by

“Thanks to computerized aiming, HEL MD can operate in wholly autonomous mode, which Boeing tested successfully in May 2014 — although the trials uncovered an unexpected challenge. The weapon’s laser beam is silent and invisible, and not all targets explode as they are destroyed, so an automated battle can be over before operators have noticed anything. ‘The engagements happen quickly, and unless you’re staring at a screen 24–7 you’ll never see them,’ Blount says. ‘So we’ve built sound in for whenever we fire the laser. We plan on taking advantage of lots of Star Trek and Star Wars sound bites.'”

http://www.nature.com/news/military-technology-laser-weapons-get-real-1.17613

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Luxury Homes That Torture and Your Tax Dollars Built

Posted on by

“James Elmer Mitchell and John Bruce Jessen are not the first Americans to employ  waterboarding and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ against our enemies.  But they are almost certainly the only ones to get rich doing it.  They did so by employing what is widely dismissed as ‘voodoo science’ based on misapplied principles in a program that CIA records suggest produced little, if any, intelligence of significant value.  And they might have gotten even richer. The Senate Intelligence Committee report says they secured a contract with the CIA in 2006 valued ‘in excess of $180 million.’  The CIA canceled the deal three years later, but by then the duo had received $81 million.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/12/the-beach-houses-that-torture-built.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Defence companies get boost from growing fears of conflict

Posted on by

“Defence and aerospace shares have surged as the risk of conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine ratchets up and City analysts identified how companies in the sector are likely to benefit from growing geopolitical tensions.  They also suggested that spending on the military could also increase in some of BAE’s most main important markets.  ‘Looking beyond 2015, we think that the defence outlook has stabilised and could grow again in some critical countries to BAE – US, UK, Sweden, Australia, Saudi Arabia,’ they said. David Cameron and Barack Obama will call for NATO allies to increase defence spending at the security organisation’s summit in Wales which starts on Thursday.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/11068001/Defence-companies-get-boost-from-growing-fears-of-conflict.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Big Win for Defense Industry: Obama Rolls Back Limits on Arms Exports

Posted on by

“Under the new system, whole categories of equipment encompassing tens of thousands of items will move to the Commerce Department, where they will be under more “flexible” controls. Some military equipment, such as fighter jets, drones, and other systems and parts, will stay under the State Department’s tighter oversight. The switch from State to Commerce represents a big win for defense manufacturers, who have long lobbied in favor of relaxing U.S. export rules.  Among the companies that recently lobbied on the issue: Lockheed, which manufactures C-130 transport planes, Textron, which makes Kiowa Warrior helicopters, and Honeywell, which outfits military choppers.”

http://www.propublica.org/article/in-big-win-for-defense-industry-obama-rolls-back-limits-on-arms-export

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Pentagon Spent $5 Billion on Weapons on the Eve of the Shutdown

Posted on by

“The Pentagon pumped billions of dollars into contractors’ bank accounts on the eve of the U.S. government’s shutdown that saw 400,000 Defense Department employees furloughed.  All told, the Pentagon awarded 94 contracts yesterday evening on its annual end-of-the-fiscal-year spending spree, spending more than five billion dollars on everything from robot submarines to Finnish hand grenades and a radar base mounted on an offshore oil platform. To put things in perspective, the Pentagon gave out only 14 contracts on September 3, the first workday of the month.  Here are some of the more interesting purchases from Monday’s dollar-dump.”

http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/01/on_the_eve_of_the_government_shutdown_the_pentagon_spent_billions_on_weapons

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

How Much Will the Defense Industry Make from a Syria Missile Strike?

Posted on by

“Two companies are primarily responsible for the manufacture of the missiles that would be used—Raytheon makes the Tomahawks and JSOWs, while Lockheed Martin makes the JASSMs. The past year has seen both companies win several contracts from the government.  In December, the Pentagon paid Raytheon $254.6 million contract for some fresh Tomahawks, just six months after the company had gotten a $337.8 million contract for yet more missiles. That’s nearly $600 million of government moolah in just the past 15 months, and with Tomahawks expected to be the weapon of choice in Syria, Raytheon could to turn even bigger profits.”

http://www.vice.com/read/how-much-will-the-defense-industry-make-off-of-a-missile-strike-against-syria

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

David Galland: Wars and Rumors of Wars

Posted on by

“This article is about why I think interest rates are heading higher, viewed through the context of the politics of the US government’s next war. While I’d prefer to convince the world to change its course toward a more peaceful future, given the futility of trying to do so, I’ll use my time with you today presenting data, analysis, and a few opinions about the economic consequences of the march toward war that US policy is now set upon. The chart below combines defense, veterans benefits, homeland security, the State Department, and defense-related interest payments, to create a more comprehensive picture of our military spending.”

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/wars-and-rumors-of-wars

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Max Keiser’s Marshmallow Gun of Truth: Think Tank

Posted on by

Max Keiser’s Marshmallow Gun of Truth: Think Tank

“Abby Martin talks to Max Keiser, host of RT’s ‘Keiser Report’ about everything from why a supposedly broke country always has money for war, and the often illogical outcomes of important events, citing Halliburton stocks rising following revelations of the company’s criminality.”

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Senators Authorizing Syria Strike Got More Cash From Military-Industrial Complex

Posted on by

“Senators voting Wednesday to authorize a Syria strike received, on average, 83 percent more campaign financing from defense contractors than lawmakers voting against war. Overall, political action committees and employees from defense and intelligence firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell International, and others ponied up $1,006,887 to the 17 members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who voted yes or no on the authorization Wednesday, according to an analysis by Maplight, the Berkeley-based nonprofit that performed the inquiry at WIRED’s request.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/syria-war-authorization-money/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

David Stockman: The End of U.S. Imperium—Finally!

Posted on by

“Next week Congress can do far more than stop a feckless Tomahawk barrage on a small country that is already a graveyard of civil war and sectarian slaughter. By voting ‘no,’ it can trigger the end of the American Imperium—five decades of incessant meddling, bullying, and subversion around the globe that has added precious little to national security but left America fiscally exhausted and morally diminished.  Indeed, the tragedy of this vast string of misbegotten interventions is that virtually none of them involved defending the homeland or any tangible, steely-eyed linkages to national security. They were all rooted in ideology.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/03/the-end-of-u-s-imperium-finally.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet