A number of postings deal with the question of Lockheed Martin’s products and services. The early ones are related to weapons, the later ones related to surveillance. This is an early capture of information, in case of need.
The Govt of Canada out-s0urces work to Lockheed Martin. LM is a manufacturer of land mines and cluster munitions. Both products are in contravention of Canadian and International Law.
The Government must impose sanctions, at the very least, on entities that are in contravention of the Law. In a democracy people who break the law are to be prosecuted. The harms done through the illegal activity of Lockheed Martin are far greater than any committed by any inmate in Canada.
It is not as easy to pin down Lockheed Martin on the land mines as it is to nail them down on the cluster munitions. The cluster munitions treaty is sufficiently recent that the pages from the LM website were captured before they took them down (remove the evidence).
I will look in Bill Hartung’s book.
This report explains the land mines situation and has more info related to LM and cluster munitions. I have used the work of these people in the past.
/Sandra
First, DEFINITION: AP Mines
Anti-personnel mines are a form of land mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines … Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines ….
The mines are often designed to injure, not kill, victims in order to increase the logistical (mostly medical) support required by enemy forces that encounter them. Some types of anti-personnel mines can also damage the tracks on armoured vehicles or the tires of wheeled vehicles. …
= = = == = = = == = ==
April 2004 Report
http://www.mineaction.org/downloads/1/netwerk_cluster%20bombs,%20landmines%20and%20banking.pdf
Page 18:
The most important producers and exporters of landmines over the last 25 years have been Italy, the former Soviet Union and the United States. In the same period, 200 million AP mines have been produced in 50 countries. 55
China, Russia and the United States belong to the 44 countries that have never signed the Ottawa Treaty on landmines.56
Recent use of landmines
The United States has revealed that in 1991 it dropped 117,634 landmines in Iraq and Kuwait. Of these, 27,967 were AP mines, primarily dropped as part of GATOR cluster bombs.57
In the same war, the British Air Force dropped cluster bombs that included 21,500 HB876 AP mines. Since then, the UK has signed the Ottawa Treaty and destroyed her stocks of HB876 mines.58
(INSERT, Sandra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-personnel_mine The GATOR mine system is a US system of air-dropped anti-tank and anti-personnel mines developed in the 1980s to be compatible with existing cluster dispensers. It is used with two dispenser systems—the Navy 230 kg (500 lb) CBU-78/B and the Air Force 450 kg (1,000 lb) CBU-89/B. …
Note: The CBU’s (Cluster munitions) are Lockheed Martin’s. See the posting Lockheed Martin (Census) in cluster munitions and DU (“Depleted” Uranium). CPP also.
The United States has apparently not used landmines in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, the American army has made use of mine fields from the Soviet era, in order to defend itself. The US has refused to rule out the use of landmines in the war against Iraq.59
At least 90,000 landmines were held by the United States in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.60
Page 21:
2.2. Companies involved in the production of landmines
Top secret
The production of landmines is a secret business. Even in the defence sector, where companies are not normally shy about their products, companies involved in the production of landmines do not like to advertise this fact. In many countries that is logical. In the 152 countries that have signed the Ottawa treaty, it is forbidden to produce anti-personnel mines.
Even in countries that have not signed the treaty, companies do not boast about their involvement with landmines. You will not find this product advertised on their websites.
It is not surprising that it is very difficult to gather reliable and complete information about the production of these weapons.
Page 23:
American producers
In 1997, Human Rights Watch issued a report concerning companies in the US involved in the production of landmines. In this report, they identified 47 American companies that were involved in one way or another with the production of anti-personnel mines, or components.
After president Clinton made a call in 1996 to work towards a worldwide ban on anti-personnel mines, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to each of these companies asking them to refrain from future involvement in the production of AP mines. 17 companies stated that they wished to fully withdraw from this involvement. The most well known example is Motorola.
The other American companies refused to rule out future involvement with landmines. Amongst these companies are three industry leaders: ATK (Alliant Techsystems), Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
Page 10
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is not only the largest weapons producer in the world, but also the greatest supplier of weapons to the Pentagon, and the largest weapon exporting company in the world. It is not surprising that Lockheed Martin is involved in the production and trade in cluster munitions.
The company, and more specifically the division Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is the producer of the MLRS system (Multiple Launch Rocket System), a highly mobile missile launching system that in less than 1 minute can fire 12 MLRS missiles.29
MLRS is used to fire ground-launched missiles.
The missiles used in the MLRS system are missiles with cluster munitions. These are also produced by Lockheed Martin.
A short overview30:
- The basic MLRS missile (M26) consists of a warhead with 644 M77 sub-munitions (DPICM) and has a range of 32 km. This means that a total of 8000 sub-munitions can be fired per minute.
• The ERR missile (M26 A1/A2) has a range of 45 km and contains 518 M77 sub-munitions • The “guided” MLRS XL30 missile has a range of 60 km and contains 402 DPCIM sub-munitions (in production since April 2003).
• The ATACMS Block 1 missile has a range of 165 km, and contains 950 M74 anti-personnel/anti-material sub-munitions
• The ATACMS Block 1A has a range of 300 km and contains 275 M74 sub-munitions
In March and April 2003 MLRS cluster munitions were used in the war against Iraq.
The use of ground-launched sub-munitions (including the MLRS) by American and British ground troops was the largest cause of civilian casualties in the war. These weapons were used in populated areas including Baghdad, Basra, al-Hillal, al-Najaf and Karbala.
There is still a great lack of clarity about the total number of sub-munitions used in Iraq, but the Third Infantry, the First Airborne Division and the 214th Field Artillery Brigade have reported the use of 1014 MLRS missiles and 330 ATACMS missiles. The MLRS cluster munitions were primarily used at long ranges. The majority of the American-used sub-munitions were DPICMs. In Iraq, it was standard practice to fire salvos of six MLRS missiles. Each salvo launched 3864 sub-munitions over a target area with a radius of 1 km. According to a report by the American ‘Office of the Under Secretary of 29 http://www.army-technology.com/projects/mlrs/ 30 The description of these products can be found on the website of Lockheed Martin,http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=20&sc=400www.mijngeldgoedgeweten.be 10
A campaign of Netwerk Vlaanderen vzw, in cooperation with Forum voor Vredesactie, For Mother Earth and Vrede vzw
The MLRS systems fires a ATACMS Block 1 rocket composed of 950 sub-munitions (Lockheed Martin)
Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics’ MLRS sub-munitions have a failure rate of 16%. 31
Before the start of the war in Iraq, Human Rights Watch asked the United States to rule out the use of four specific types of cluster munitions. Amongst others, the use of MLRS missiles with M77 submunitions was considered by HRW to be very dangerous for civilians.32
The MLRS system is supplied by Lockheed Martin to 14 countries, including the US, Israel, Bahrain and the Netherlands.
Lockheed Martin is also the producer of the WCMD, the Wind Corrected Munition Dispenser. This is an extension for existing cluster munitions (CBU-87, -89, and -97) that makes it possible to use cluster munitions in unfavourable weather conditions including high wind speeds. Most cluster bombs dropped by the American Air Force in the last war in Iraq were equipped with WCMDs from Lockheed Martin. 33
Lockheed Martin played an important role behind the scenes in support of the war in Iraq. In 2002, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq was formed with the support of the Bush administration.
The former vice chairman of Lockheed Martin, Bruce Jackson, became the chairman of the Committee. The group promoted Bush’s plans for the war against Iraq. Jackson was also involved in the issuing of the statement of the Vilnius 10; ten Central and East European States – the so-called New Europe – that supported Bush in the run up to the war in Iraq. The divide between ‘Old’ Europe (Germany and France) and ‘New’ Europe helped Bush to acquire support for his war against Iraq.
The wife of Vice President Dick Cheney was a member of the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin.
The slogan of Lockheed Martin is “We never forget who we’re working for”.