Apr 152013
 

News of Lockheed Martin’s recent publicity blitz:

–  links follow, with short excerpts

–  The information in Item #1 set me to laughing out loud (LOL).

The Darth Vader helmet that F-35 pilots would wear has to be “Boys and Their Toys”.     I hope the $1 million per helmet  (or is it  $2M per?) is included in the sticker price of the F-35s!

–  After Lockheed Martin:

  • tacked another $20 million onto the price tag of each F-35,
  • four days later they announced:  “one of the biggest myths” is the rapidly rising costs

I must say,  Darth Vader helmets put the finishing touch on the Theatre of the Absurd!

–   Get this:  if we DON’T buy their F-35 stealth bombers  . . .  see Item #5.  Boy! are we in trouble!

Lockheed Martin, the war industry, will NEVER have ENOUGH.   It’s obvious from the U.S. experience.  They mire the whole country deep in debt.  Tax-payers become their wage slaves, working to pay taxes – the taxes going straight to Lockheed Martin.   For Canadians the amount is projected to be $45 BILLION DOLLARS.  I don’t know if that includes the recent price hike of $20 million per stealth bomber.

THE RECENT NEWS

The last and most important item is: 

So what are we doing about Lockheed Martin and the F-35s?

 

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1.   Lockheed Martin is not going to stop until Canadians are on the hook for F-35s – –  Lockheed’s new “publicity blitz

… the giant U.S. defence contractor is launching a cross-Canada publicity blitz to convince Canadians to buy its F-35 stealth fighter jet  (April 8)

 (Ummm, that would be at a price of $45 billion, no wonder they’d like us to buy!)

(The full article:  2013-04-08 Lockheed Martin launches Canadian PR campaign for F-35, U.S. defence contractor takes F-35 simulator on road show, CBC)

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2.   Lockheed says the price goes up (again!), but just by $20 million per stealth bomber

Steve O’Bryan, Lockheed’s vice-president for the F-35 program, said just 18 months ago that Canada would pay $65 million per plane. Now, O’Bryan tells CBC News the price is $85 million. 

BUT!   See #8.  American tax-payers are hearing $137 million per F-35.

When one of these babies goes down, and one has already (even before they’ve been introduced into active service)  just think – – OOPS!  $137 million dollars (or maybe it’s only $85 million?)   of hard-earned tax money down the toilet.

WHO are the geniuses behind the Canadian war strategy?  (policies that bankrupt us are not a “defence strategy“.)

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3.   Four days later:  Oh no, says he, the rapidly rising cost is a myth!

“One of the biggest myths is the cost of the F-35 is rapidly growing. Nothing could be further from the truth,” said O’Bryan.

(The full article:  2013-04-12 Lockheed Martin promos $75M fighter jet in Winnipeg, CBC)

 

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4.  WHY this new push to convince Canadians to buy F-35s ? . . .  a mid-May deadline on Lockheed Martin.

 

The defence company has been given until mid-May to provide Ottawa with a status report on the jets . . .   

 And, they’re desperate.  American citizens are revolting.   The citizens in other countries that the Pentagon (Lockheed Martin) thought were going to pay for the F-35s are revolting.  WHO is going to bail them out?   . . .  how about dumb Canucks?

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5.  Earlier, Lockheed Martin tried coercion.   If we don’t buy the F-35 stealth bombers, they’re going to take their money and go home! 

The F-35 program isn’t so easy to exit, though.  A Lockheed spokesman raised the possibility that Canada would lose its F-35-related business — and jobs — if it didn’t buy planes. 

“If Canada did pull out of the program, all remaining aspects, including industrial participation, connected to the program would most likely be reviewed,” Michael Rein wrote in a Dec. 17 e-mail to Bloomberg Government.

See  2013-02-22 Flawed F-35 Fighter Too Big to Kill as Lockheed Hooks 45 States, Bloomberg News

 

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6.  A presentation by Michael Rein, the Lockheed spokesman who “raised the possibility”  that they’d leave the playbox, taking their toys with them:   “The F-35 ProgramLeveraging the Corporate Communications-PR Agency Relationship

I was curious about what else is known about Rein.  Found this:

FPRA 2012 Annual Conference: Breakout Session, The F-35 Program: Leveraging the Corporate Communications–PR Agency Relationship, Michael Rein

http://fprablog.org/2012/08/07/fpra-2012-annual-conference-breakout-session-5b-the-f-35-program-leveraging-the-corporate-communications%E2%80%93pr-agency-relationship-michael-rein/

 

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7.  A  page from Lockheed Martin’s textbook:  Winnipeg (Magellan Aerospace).

(From 2013-04-12 Lockheed Martin promos $75M fighter jet in Winnipeg, CBC)

some of the components for the F-35 are produced in Winnipeg by Magellan Aerospace. . . . “For us, it’s up to $2 billion worth of revenue over 25 to 35 years of production,” said Don Boitson, the general manager of Magellan Aerospace.

Exactly like they’ve done it in the U.S., make local economies dependent upon the war machine Never mind that overall you are bankrupting the nation, bleeding the tax-payers dry, and adding to global instability.   

I was thinking of the  mechanisms by which the American military-industrial-government-university complex is being duplicated in Canada:

Related posting:  2008-09-17 Reply from DND to my email (July 3), “Absolutely NO to “CANADA FIRST DEFENCE STRATEGY

 

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8.  I forgot (from Lockheed Martin’s text book)  the distortions of the truth (use of propaganda):

He said eight countries have signed contracts for F-35s, and if more sign up, prices will go down.   

“The cost of the F-35 is rapidly decreasing,” said O’Bryan.

 The truth?    2013-02-22 Flawed F-35 Fighter Too Big to Kill as Lockheed Hooks 45 States, Bloomberg News :

Allies have agreed to purchase 721 fighters, yet the soaring price is painful for nations with shrinking defense budgets. The estimated cost of each plane has about doubled to $137 million since 2001, according to a GAO report last year.  .… 

Canada Reconsiders 

Canada had dropped to 65 planes from 80. In December, it said it was reconsidering its commitment to purchase any of the jets after a consultant said the price to buy and maintain them might reach about $45 billion.  

(Most of the countries that were sucked into the NATO / American / Lockheed Martin boondoggle have significantly cut back their commitment, except Japan.)

The F-35 program isn’t so easy to exit, though. A Lockheed spokesman raised the possibility that Canada would lose its F-35-related business — and jobs — if it didn’t buy planes.  . . .  

 

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9.   Love this!  an  online Comment 

What does Canada have left to protect? Harper Canada has sold, given away, and outsourced it all. We don’t need these war machines. 

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Another person pointed out that military technology is moving to drones (which we’ve covered in this blog).  

Hmm,  the F-35s were conceived in the pre-drone era.   Need to dump these manned stealth bombers before they become REALLY obsolete.   How about those guillible Canadians?!

 

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10.  I wonder in what Lockheed Martin is coaching the students at “Canadian military service academies” . . .  “Cyber Security is at the core of all we do”  … The irony:  2011-05-27  Hackers broke into Lockheed Martin networks  

 

FIRST:   Would Canadian military service academies include Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston?  with former Chairman of Lockheed Martin Canada participating at RMC ?      

From Item #8 in the posting 2008-07-23   Letter to Dalhousie University re 2 million dollars from Lockheed Martin  

The “Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute” (CDFAI) is at RMC.

Retired General PAUL MANSON sits on the Advisory Council for CDFAI. At one time he was Chief of Defence for Canada, had involvements with NATO, etc.:

“Following military service, he entered business as the president of a large aerospace company, ultimately retiring in 1997 as Chairman of Lockheed Martin Canada.”  You can read his biography at  (Link no longer valid)  http://www.cdfai.org/advisorycouncil.htm   

 

In what is Lockheed Martin training the students?

(Link no longer valid)  http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2013/04/15/lockheed-martin-hosts-cyber-defense-exercise-supporting-nsa-for-11th-year/

EXCERPT:

April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) will host emerging cyber leaders from U.S. and Canadian military service academies to test their capabilities this week against experts from the National Security Agency in the annual Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110419/PH85737LOGO-b)

“Cyber Security is at the core of all we do, so each year we are inspired by these innovative students as they face challenges from veteran NSA experts,” said Darrell Durst, vice president of cyber solutions for Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Solutions. “The students tackle the same types of threats our nation faces daily in cyber security. Whether detecting intruders, or adapting to sophisticated threats, NSA leverages this opportunity to educate the next generation of cyber professionals.”

Lockheed Martin coordinated with NSA to establish a private network for the exercise, which links all the academies with CDX headquarters at the Lockheed Martin facility in Hanover. The company is also providing technical support for CDX preparation and execution. Lockheed Martin is a leading provider of cyber security technology and services to the NSA and a number of defense and intelligence agencies.

 

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11.   How much are Canadians currently paying for the military? 

At $18.7 billion, Canada is the 6th highest military spender with NATO (and three of the five higher than Canada have nuclear arsenals). Harper’s annual defence budget has climbed so high, it is now 20 per cent above the average amount spent during the entire four decades of the Cold War.  . . . 

(Globally, governments squandered $1.73 trillion on militaries in 2011, and still the weapons corporations want more.) 

 

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12.  So what are we doing about Lockheed Martin and the F-35s? 

  • Make sure your neighbours know.  Spread the word about Lockheed Martin.  Awareness is the best medicine.  Don’t walk into the grave with your eyes shut!
  • Phone your Member-of-Parliament.
  • Have some fun!   Ceasefire.ca   $45 billion on F-35’s.  How would YOU spend the money?!   http://www.ceasefire.ca/   (Global day of action on military spending, April, 2013)
  • Conscience Canada, withhold an amount from your tax payment that represents the portion that will go to Lockheed Martin.   Conscience Canada provides the tools to make it easy:  http://www.consciencecanada.ca/
  • Add to the on-line Comments on news articles

 

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MISCELLANEOUS

2012-12-12   Have a laugh. Wall Street Journal article.  Canadian government scrapped its plans to buy 65 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. 

 

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  3 Responses to “2013-04-15 Lockheed Martin is desperate – – to get our money! And what is the cost of one F-35 stealth bomber?”

  1. 65 million plus infrastructure. And the plane costs three times more to fly per hour than the f-18 super hornet and doesn’t carry much in munitions because it’s internal. Google “f-22 vs f-35” or “f22 vs f-18” or “f-18 vs f-35” – check the data

    • Using $ 45 billion on updating armaments, when a billion people are dying because of lack of food and other life necessities, seems to me, and I would hope
      any person (s) wanting peace and security on our ( not just the government) earth
      seems, yes is am injustice, a madness and a strategy doomed to failure and disgrace.

      I would think CANADIANS would be more intelligent, more humanistic than appro-
      ving such action,

      Sincerely,
      Luiza

  2. MORE ON PAUL MANSON, LOCKHEED MARTIN

    John wrote: “Interesting that it doesn’t mention Paul Manson, former Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman of Lockheed Martin Canada, his post-retirement position. In January 2011 Manson wrote a vigorous defence of Canada’s proposed purchase of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II for the media. In the article Manson indicated that he was a former Chief of Defence Staff but neglected to mention his chairmanship of Lockheed Martin Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s manufacturer.”

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