donderdag 28 januari 2016

Dutch missile technology to Saudi Arabia?

Germany "supports the supply of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia," concluded Left Party Bundestag member Jan van Aken in a reaction to the deliverances of components for Tornado and Eurofighter combat aircraft, parts of howitzer and mortar ammunition, and armoured transport vehicles to the Saudi kingdom. The exports were authorized as part of joint projects to which Germany committed itself. According to the German government, this was export to other European countries, not to Saudi-Arabia. The same logic, although on a smaller scale of export, is followed by the Dutch government when for example justifying the export of Sea Sparrow missile components.



Saudi Arabia is the notorious sponsor and source of inspiration for much of Islamic violence in the wider Middle East, staging military and financial interventions in order to create stronger salafist influence. Internally, the country has a repressive policy against women and minorities which is amongst the worst in the world. But Saudi Arabia is also spending billions of its oil dollars on arms, making it the third or fourth military spender in the world (depending on calculation method used).
Last week Riyadh declared that the building of four naval vessels by Lockheed Martin in the US is too expensive – between 3 and 4 billion US$ each - and goes too slow (it can take up to seven years). The statement can be seen as part of the negotiations over price and schedule of the ships. The Saudi acquisition is part of a US$ 20 billion programme to refresh the ageing U.S.-built Saudi fleet operating in the Persian Gulf, according to a State Department notification issued in October. Shortly after the Saudi complaint Lockheed could rescedule and build quicker.

According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA ) 532 Raytheon Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) will be sold to the Saudi's as part of the programme. Here the involvement of Netherlands starts. The country participates in the NATO Sea Sparrow Consortium since the beginning e.g. through Fokker and Thales. Most of the Sea Sparrow project concerns sea launched missiles but a 2012 arms fair showed Fokker and Thales involvement in some land based Sea Sparrows. The last two Sea Sparrow contracts, reported on the website of the US Ministry of Defense, the mentioned the Dutch as producers. October 30, 2015 a contract was issued valued at € 15.3 million, of which 60 percent by the the Sea Sparrow Consortium. An April 2, 2015 contract for Sea Sparrow Block 2 missile engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) requirements was issued for $517,300,000 (€ 474.7m). The Netherlands will pay for 5 percent of this contract and perform 3 percent of the work. The result in real figures is € 14 million. Research institute TNO also played a role in the work on the missile and developped the system which provide the data to optimise raid annihilation.

The Sea Sparrow sales can also be found in the monthly arms export reports by the Dutch government. In 2014 (the latest published) three exports to Denmark of Sea Sparrow components are reported, one to the United Arab Emirates, and one to the VS. Together the exports are valued at € 8.1 million. But the rather vague description 'technology for guided missiles' [Technologie voor geleide raketten] is also used in the reports so the conclusion it is likely many more are under-reported but took place.

The Fokker Special Products website makes no secret of Sea Sparrows technology production. The Supplier Quality Assurance Requirements Fokker has signed – regarding selling Sea Sparrow components – states: “Full traceability of the supply chain shall be guaranteed and be proven by the paperwork.” So it can be known in which missiles for which destination the components are assembled. It enables the Dutch government to control if sales have the destination Saudi Arabia. But such action is not to be expected, because it is antagonising the US and our ally in Riyadh. A new sale of weapon components to Saudi Arabia is in the making. And will the Netherlands follow the German example where words are nice but policy wrong. Or will it be stopped?

Martin Broek 28/01/2016

vrijdag 15 januari 2016

Beertje

In zijn artikel over de boze Russische beer stelt Steven Derix dat Moskou met 81 miljard dollar meer geld uitgeeft dan de meeste Europese NAVO-landen, waar de defensie-uitgaven zijn gedaald tot ruim onder de 2 procent. De cijfers van het befaamde Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) voor 2014 laten inderdaad zien dat Frankrijk met 62,3 miljard dollar, het Verenigd Koninkrijk met 60,5 miljard dollar en Duitsland met 46,5 miljard dollar Rusland voor zich moeten dulden (zie tabel). Daarvan waren de militaire uitgaven in 2014 volgens SIPRI 84,5 miljard dollar. Andersom stelde het Britse IHS (uitgever van militaire tijdschriften en handboeken) afgelopen juni zelfs dat het VK (60,9 miljard) boven Rusland (57,7 miljard) stond in 2015.

Je zou de militaire uitgaven ook kunnen vergelijken met die van de EU. Die waren in 2014 278 miljard dollar of met die van de hele NAVO van zo'n 900 miljard. NAVO-landen investeren bovendien een groot deel van hun budget in nieuwe wapens. Putin kiest naar verluidt voor het verhogen van de weddes om steun van militairen te kopen. (Ik laat het gestook en de kernwapens buiten beschouwing, maar de NAVO heeft ook meer kernbommen en betere raketafweer.) In 2015 steeg het budget van Rusland nauwelijks. Al met al staat die boze beer naar militaire uitgaven gemeten plots naast een veel grotere neushoorn en een nog grotere olifant. Zelfs minder dan 2% van het BNP die de NAVO-landen uitgeven aan de krijgsmacht is ruimschoots voldoende om die voorsprong te behouden.


EU-country
ME in million US$
France
62.289
UK
60.482
Germany
46.455
Italy
30.909
Spain
12.732
Poland
10.499
Netherlands
10.086
Sweden
6.573
Greece
5.318
Belgium
5.190
Denmark
4.457
Portugal
4.201
Finland
3649
Austria
3.257
Romania
2.543
Czech Republic
2.023
Ireland
1.191
Hungary
1.164
Slovak Rep.
988
Croatia
875
Bulgaria
837
Estonia
509
Slovenia
490
Cyprus
423
Lithuania
377
Latvia
299
Luxembourg
297
Malta
59,8
Total
278.173

donderdag 14 januari 2016

figures for action

“Developing nations from 2011 to 2014 received 62% of the value of all international arms deliveries.” It is a text from the annual report 'Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2007-2014,' published December 2015. The newest edition of this annual report appeared almost against expectation. The previous issue was published in 2012; annual was hardly accurate any more.

The report is written by Catherine A. Theohary for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). She replaces Richard F. Grimmett, who has been the author for such a long time that the report had become known as the Grimmett-report. The rebirth of the report with a new author was launched with a media strategy. It was a week after publication before it became really public. This gave the New York Times the possibility to write an exclusive article which was cited in papers all over the world. The US$ 10 billion growth to US$ 36 billion annual US arms exports made headlines. Russian sales declined slightly from US$ 10,3 to US$ 10,2 billion. Remarkable is also the position of Sweden as number three with US$ 5,5 billion of exports. Giorgio Beretta, an Italian anti-arms trade activist tweeted that four EU-countries are among the prominent arms sellers at the Middle East bazaar: France, UK, Germany, and Italy.

The Korean press site Chosun Ilbo cited the fact that South-Korea, with imports valued at US$ 7.8, was the largest arms buyer world wide in 2014. Not something to be proud of, as activists from four continents made clear in October last year at an arms fair in Seoul.
For me the search engine of Adobe reader goes directly on digging for 'Netherlands'. The catch? In 2014 the Netherlands took the ninth position on 'arms transfer agreement,' with a value of US$ 900 million. This predicts high results for the next year on arms exports. The Netherlands takes already the eleventh position (2007-2014) considering world wide arms exports. The report underlines already familiar knowledge based on a variety of sources.

Another report also published in December is less noticed by the press. The World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers - often abbreviated as WMEAT-report  - of the US State Department is one the most handy overviews on military expenditures, troop levels, arms sales and imports worldwide etc. But with figures on the years 2002-2012 it crawls behind other sources. The Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), publisher of the Military Balance, gave military expenditure figures for 2014 already. Both can be consulted on the internet and are the source for a wiki lemma on military expenditure. The most used source of arms trade figures is SIPRI, an organisation with a wide range of different sources and easy-to-use spreadsheets. The European Union will probably publish its 2014 figures in March 2016. The 2013 figures were published March 2015. This is rather late, as Stop Wapenhandel pointed out in a press statement last year. Officially figures are due to be publish as late as December of the year following the year it provides figures for. The EU figures are easy to organise and search with the EU export browser on the website of the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT). In the blink of an eye you can see that our friends in Riyadh are the second most important destination of arms from human rights friendly EU.

WMEAT lags far behind with 2012 figures in December 2015. It contains the statement that arms exports are reducing the state deficit, because the ratio between in- and export are largely in favour of exports: US$ 102 billion annually (a remarkably high figure in comparison with other sources) versus US$ 4 billion. What WMEAT does not observe is that the US debt has reached a level of US$ 20 trillion – more than 100 percent of the US BBP – which is mainly due to warmongering and military acquisitions. The US would not even meet the criteria for entering the EU with this performance. WMEAT gives noteworthy figures for the period 2002-2012: the US was responsible for three quarters of all arms trade, the European Union for a tenth, Russia for a twentieth and China for less than 2 percent. However remarkable press will not take note of three year old figures.

The only press publications on WMEAT has been one by a South Korea website writing on the number 1 position of neighbour Japan as arms importer. Japan's military is still vividly remembered in Korea for it's decennia of military occupation. A week later – more importantly - the Chinese People's Daily published a Op-ed ending with the text: “The 'peaceful nation' is just a temporary cover. Once it is set off by some international affair or other excuse, the Japanese government will abandon the banner of peace and show its true colours. The whole world, therefore, should stay alert to Japan’s intentions.” China has been another victim of Japanese imperial forces, but is currently involved in a strive for influence in the region with the US (and Japan, seen as the US biggest aircraft carrier in the region). Figures can be used for several purposes, beating the drums in conflict is obviously one of them. All the more reason to use this kind of figures to advocate arms reductions.

For precise fact on Dutch arms trade, it is best to use the website of Stop Wapenhandel. This organisation used its counter report to the official Dutch annual arms export report and monthly overviews of export permissions and transit to highlight that Dutch arms export reached its all time high in 2014, and also painted the full picture of the negative effects of many of these sales. Because as a writer in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote 'Peace on earth? Not until the U.S. stops selling arms and making war.' This is the core point. One can read EU where it writes US. Or the Netherlands, Belgium, Flanders, Italy, France, UK, any country or region exporting arms. Arms export policy and controls exist on paper. But a strict implementation is something yet to be seen; economic and foreign policy interest play a more important role. It seems to be sensible in the framework of the struggle for peace to concentrate more on our own governments than on blaming far away countries supported by our governments with military and economic support. More actual information – on 2015 e.g. - would be helpful in these efforts.

Martin Broek 13/01/2016
written for Stop Wapenhandel

woensdag 13 januari 2016

US Defense Contracts with Dutch participation (20/04/15 - 12/01/16 )

January 12, 2016 (Release No: CR-007-16)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/642757

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $28,842,000 not-to-exceed, cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-14-G-0020). This delivery order provides for air vehicle retrofit modifications associated with the F-35A fuel tank overpressure engineering change proposal in support of the Air Force, and the governments of Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (62 percent); Ogden, Utah (28 percent); and Palmdale, California (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2017. Fiscal 2014 and 2015 aircraft procurement (Air Force); 2016 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force); and international partner funds in the amount of $14,421,000 will be obligated at time of award, $6,656,033 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases of the Air Force ($26,855,466; 93.11 percent); and the governments of Netherlands ($1,633,244; 5.67 percent); Italy ($201,880; 0.70 percent); Norway ($100,940; 0.35 percent) and Australia ($50,470; 0.17 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.




December 29, 2015 (Release No: CR-250-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/639485

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $13,495,233 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024‑15‑C-5408) for procurement of 19 SM-2 Block IIIA Zumwalt flight-test-rounds for DDG 1000 class Ships (Zumwalt configuration). This contract modification also involves a purchase for the Netherlands as a result of an international agreement between the governments of the United States and the Netherlands. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (50 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (25 percent); Mountain View, California (11 percent); Camden, Arkansas (4 percent); San Diego, California (5 percent); Chandler, Arizona (3 percent); Hudson, New Hampshire (1 percent); and Redmond, Washington (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed August 2018. Fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation; fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Navy); and Memorandum of Understanding (Netherlands) funding in the amount of $13,495,233 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $10,691,917 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract modification was not competitively procured in accordance with the authority from 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c) (1) and FAR 6.302-1 (a) (2). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

December 21, 2015 (Release No: CR-245-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/637649

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $1,171,206,489 advance acquisition contract for the advance procurement of long lead time materials, parts, components and effort to maintain the planned production schedule for F-35 low rate initial production lot 11 aircraft. The advance acquisition effort includes 80 F-35A aircraft (28 for the U.S. Air Force; 6 for the government of Norway; 4 for the government of Turkey; 8 for the government of the Netherlands; 8 for the government of Australia; 10 for the government of Israel; 6 for the government of Japan; and 10 for the government of South Korea); 7 F-35B aircraft (6 for the U.S. Marine Corps; and 1 for the United Kingdom); and 4 F-35C aircraft for the U.S. Navy. This contract also includes an undefinitized contract action for production of 2 F-35A aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and F-35C aircraft for the U.S. Navy. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (55 percent); El Segundo, California (15 percent); Warton, United Kingdom (10 percent); Orlando, Florida (5 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (5 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (5 percent); and Nagoya, Japan (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2019. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Air Force, Navy), fiscal 2016 aircraft procurement (Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps), non-U.S. DoD partner and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $847,929,604 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the U.S. Air Force ($401,509,516; 34.3 percent); U.S. Navy ($256,433,369; 21.9 percent); U.S. Marine Corps ($106,500,000; 9.1 percent); non-U.S. DoD partners ($207,069,044; 17.7 percent) and foreign military sales ($199,694,560; 17 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-16-C-0033).

November 30, 2015 (Release No: CR-229-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/631575

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded $9,018,848 for firm-fixed-fee-price delivery order 2067 to exercise an option against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-11-G-0001) for follow-on integrated logistics support/engineering services in support of the Harpoon/Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response missile system and Harpoon launch systems for the Navy and the governments of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Netherland, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Missouri (91.84 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (5.47 percent); Yorktown, Virginia (2.64 percent); and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (0.05 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2017. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds; and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $9,018,848 are being obligated on this award, of which $2,425,166 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Navy ($2,425,166; 26.89 percent); and the governments of Korea ($986,268; 10.94 percent); Taiwan ($783,148; 8.68 percent); Turkey ($506,886; 5.62 percent); Japan ($504,179; 5.59 percent); Egypt ($503,268; 5.58 percent); Saudi Arabia ($421,531; 4.67 percent); Australia ($381,336; 4.23 percent); United Kingdom ($347,333; 3.85 percent); Canada ($254,720; 2.82 percent); Chile ($241,248; 2.67 percent); Israel ($207,323; 2.30 percent); Portugal ($202,207; 2.24 percent); India ($189,909; 2.11 percent); Thailand $186,382; 2.07 percent); Singapore ($154,170; 1.71 percent); Bahrain ($140,478; 1.56 percent); Kuwait ($99,253; 1.10 percent); United Arab Emirates ($95,726; 1.06 percent); Malaysia ($95,506; 1.06 percent); Oman ($94,404; 1.05 percent); Netherlands ($82,669; 0.92 percent); Germany ($66,136; 0.73 percent); and Denmark ($49,601; 0.55 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

November 9, 2015 (Release No: CR-216-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/628342

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $112,779,000 modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-15-C-0003) for the procurement of additional long-lead time items necessary for the manufacture and delivery of low-rate initial production Lot 10 F-35A aircraft for the Air Force and Lot 11 F-35A aircraft for the government of the Netherlands. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30 percent); El Segundo, California (25 percent); Warton, United Kingdom (20 percent); Orlando, Florida (10 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (5 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (5 percent); and Cameri, Italy (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2019. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Air Force); and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participant funds in the amount of $112,779,000 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the Air Force ($99,060,000; 88 percent) and non-U.S. DoD participants ($13,719,000; 12 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

October 30, 2015 (Release No: CR-209-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/626771

Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is being awarded $16,619,241 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the NATO Seasparrow Missile System Design Agent engineering and technical support. The contractor shall provide a variety of Design Agent program management, engineering, technical and logistics services and supplies necessary to provide effective life cycle support and modernization of the NATO Seasparrow Project Office Combat System Division portfolio, which includes the MK 57 NATO Seasparrow Surface Missile System, the MK 48/56 Guided Missile Vertical Launch System, MK 41 Vertical Launch System related software and equipment, and a variety of lab and special test equipment. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $89,080,693. This contract combines purchases for the Navy and the governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Turkey as part of the NATO Seasparrow Consortium. The Navy share is 40 percent of the program, and the partner nations will combine for 60 percent of the program. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Rhode Island (94 percent); Marlborough, Massachusetts (3 percent); and San Diego, California (3 percent), and is expected to be completed by November 2016. Fiscal 2015 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $2,027,741; fiscal 2008 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $653,250; fiscal 2015 international funding in the amount of $570,629; and foreign military sales funding in the amount of $100,000 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(4). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-5418).

September 25, 2015 (Release No: CR-184-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/620608 


Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $264,805,607 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for an AIM-9X system improvement program to provide additional capability and resolve obsolescence issues for the Navy, Air Force, and the governments of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Belgium, Netherlands and Turkey under the Foreign Military Sales program. The effort includes engineering services required to incorporate new AIM-9X missile components and associated software updates into the Lot 17 and Lot 19 production programs. This effort will also provide development, integration, and flight test support for AIM-9X Block II hardware and software. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (95.5 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (2.3 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (1.5 percent); and other various continental U.S. locations (0.7 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2020. Fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy and Air Force), and foreign military sales funds, in the amount of $46,424,785 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($24,783,835; 53.35 percent); Navy ($10,746,165; 23.15 percent); and the governments of Turkey ($3,340,868; 7.2 percent); Netherlands ($1,900,000; 4.6 percent); Belgium ($2,098,917; 4.5 percent); Singapore ($1,960,000; 4.3 percent); Malaysia ($1,310,000; 2.8 percent); and Korea ($285,000; .1 percent). This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-15-C-0121).

***

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $227,047,688 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-15-C-0092) for procurement of 447 AIM-9X Block II all up round tactical full-rate production Lot 15 missiles for the Navy (102), Air Force (243), and the governments of Japan (9), Korea (76), Romania (12), and Israel (5).  In addition, this modification provides for the procurement of 129 Block II captive air training missiles for the Navy (54), Air Force (60), Army (2), and the governments of Korea (2), Romania (6), and Israel (5); 7 special air training missiles for the Army; 174 all up round containers for the Navy (44), Air Force (85), Army (10), and the governments of Japan (3), Korea (19), Romania (7), and Israel (6); 4 captive test missiles for the Army (2), Navy (1) and Air Force (1); one test asset for the Navy; spares for the Navy, Air Force; and 12 lots of spares for Australia (1), Finland (1), Singapore (1), Korea (1), Switzerland (1), Morocco (1), Belgium (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Oman (2), the Netherlands (1), and Romania (1).  Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (43.74 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (10.08 percent); Valencia, California (6.63 percent); Ontario Canada, Midland (5.54 percent); Rocket Center, West Virginia (5.49 percent); Vancouver, Washington (5.07 percent); Goleta, California (2.86 percent); Cheshire, Connecticut (2.05 percent); Heilbronn, Germany (1.88 percent); Simsbury, Connecticut (1.61 percent); San Jose, California (1.48 percent); Anniston, Alabama (1.31 percent); Cincinnati, Ohio (1.22 percent); Maniago, Italy (1.21 percent); Chatsworth, California (1.11 percent); San Diego, California (1.04 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (0.60 percent); Orlando, Florida (0.55 percent); Newbury Park, California (0.50 percent); El Segundo, California (0.50 percent) Claremont, California (0.43 percent); Joplin, Missouri (0.39 percent); Lombard, Illinois (0.28 percent); El Cajon, California (0.15 percent) and various locations inside and outside the continental U.S. (4.28 percent).  Work is expected to be completed in December 2017.  Fiscal 2013, 2014, and 2015 missile procurement (Air Force and Army); fiscal 2013 and 2015 weapons procurement (Navy); fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $227,047,688 are being obligated on this award, $815,817 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c) (1).  This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($113,451,928; 49.97 percent), the Navy ($53,057,371; 23.37 percent); the Army ($4,187,870; 1.84 percent); and the governments of Korea ($38,156,051; 16.81 percent); Romania ($7,398,811; 3.26 percent); Japan ($4,461,206; 1.96 percent); Israel ($3,667,822; 1.62 percent); Singapore ($702,297; 0.31 percent); Oman ($572,508; 0.25 percent); Finland ($421,032; 0.18 percent); Belgium ($442,585; 0.19 percent); Saudi Arabia ($284,386; 0.13 percent); Australia ($149,523; 0.06 percent); Switzerland ($50,117; 0.02 percent); the Netherlands ($41,614; 0.02 percent); and Morocco ($2,567; 0.01 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. 

September 2, 2015 (Release No: CR-168-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/616022 


Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc., Marion, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $20,045,915 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-11-C-6404 to exercise option year four for the production of MK48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System Functional Item replacement kits and related engineering services. This modification includes foreign military sales (FMS) to Canada and the Netherlands. Work will be performed in Marion, Massachusetts (95 percent); and Syracuse, New York (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by May 2018. Fiscal 2015 weapons procurement (Navy); FMS (Canada and Netherlands); fiscal 2015 operation and maintenance (Navy); and FMS (Netherlands) funding in the amount of $20,045,915 will be obligated at time of award, and $49,958 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

August 28, 2015 (Release No: CR-165-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/615285

Thales Raytheon Systems Co. LLC, Fullerton, California, was awarded a $82,606,668 cost-plus-fixed-fee, multi-year, foreign military sales contract (Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Chile) for sentinel radar technical/logistical services. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2018. One bid was solicited with one received. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-15-D-0058).

August 4, 2015 (Release No: CR-147-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/612905

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $431,322,997 modification to the previously awarded Lot IX F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter advance acquisition contract (N00019-14-C-0002) for the procurement of production non-recurring items. These items include special tooling and special test equipment items that are critical to meeting current and future production rates for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps; non-U.S. Department of Defense participants; and foreign military sales customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (35 percent); Palmdale, California (10 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (8 percent); Preston, United Kingdom (7 percent); San Diego, California (5 percent); Orlando, Florida (4 percent); Marietta, Georgia (4 percent); Torino, Italy (4 percent); Merrimack, New Hampshire (4 percent); Eagan, Minnesota (4 percent); Hauppauge, New York (2 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (2 percent); Alpharetta, Georgia (2 percent); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (2 percent); Cheltenham, United Kingdom (2 percent); Grenaa, Denmark (1 percent); Hoogeveen, Netherlands (1 percent); Melbourne, Florida (1 percent); Salt Lake City, Utah (1 percent); and Garden Grove, California (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force), non-U.S. Department of Defense participant, and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $431,322,997 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchase for the Air Force ($150,136,184; 34.81 percent); Navy ($75,068,092; 17.40 percent); Marine Corps ($75,068,092; 17.40 percent); non-U.S. Department of Defense participants ($75,392,333; 17.48 percent); and foreign military sales customers ($55,658,296; 12.91 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

June 30, 2015 (Release No: CR-123-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Article/606881

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $19,641,417 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-02-C-3002) for requirements development and maturation efforts for the F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter Air System. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in March 2016. Fiscal 2014 research and development (Navy and Air Force); fiscal 2015 research and development (Navy, Air Force and Marine Corp.); and Cooperative Partner funds in the amount of $19,641,417 will be obligated at the time of award, $1,655,373 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the U.S. Navy ($5,597,287; 28.7 percent); U.S. Air Force ($5,408,209; 27.54 percent); U.S. Marine Corps. ($3,904,548; 19.7 percent); and the Governments of Australia ($710,521; 3.61 percent); Canada ($337,155; 1.7 percent); Italy ($466,752; 2.38 percent); Netherlands ($217,537; 1.1 percent); Norway ($711,221; 3.62 percent); Turkey ($1,359,110; 6.92 percent); and United Kingdom ($929,076; 4.73 percent) under a Cooperative Agreement. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

June 25, 2015 Army (Release No: CR-120-15)
http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Article/606878

Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, was awarded an $8,310,252 modification (P00066) to foreign military sales contract W15QKN-08-C-0530 (Netherlands) for 100 Excalibur 155mm projectiles and 12 palletized containers. Work will be performed in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; McAlester, Oklahoma; Farmington, New Mexico; East Camden, Arkansas; Valencia, Santa Ana, Inglewood , Chino, Healdsburg and Corona, California; Anniston Alabama; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Joplin, Missouri; Lowell, Massachusetts; McKinney, Texas; Woodridge, Illinois; Salt Lake City, Utah; Congers, New York; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Karlskoga, Sweden; and Glenrothes and Plymouth, United Kingdom, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2015. Fiscal 2015 other procurement funds in the amount of $8,310,252 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

dinsdag 5 januari 2016

Wapens en vrede op aarde

Op Eerste Kerstdag wordt het jaarrapport 'Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2007-2014,' gebruikt voor een artikel in de Int. New York Times. In die jaaruitgave is flink de klad gekomen. De voorlaatste uitgave stamde al weer uit 2012.

Het rapport is geschreven door Catherine A. Theohary voor de onderzoeksafdeling van het Amerikaanse congres (CRS). Ze vervangt daarmee Richard F. Grimmett, die sinds mensenheugenis als auteur op het coverblad van de jaarlijkse publicatie stond. In wandelgangen werd over het Grimmett-rapport gesproken. Er was dit jaar sprake van een mediastrategie bij de lancering. Het rapport werd pas een week na publicatie openbaar. Dat gaf de New York Times de gelegenheid een stuk te schrijven dat vervolgens werd overgenomen door kranten wereldwijd. De enorme groei van de Amerikaanse wapenexporten met 10 miljard dollar naar 36 miljard dollar waren dan ook nieuwswaardig. De Russische verkopen daalden licht van 10,3 naar 10,2 miljard. Opvallend is ook de positie van Zweden als nummer drie met 5,5 miljard aan verkopen. Een Italiaans anti-wapenhandel activist twitterde dat vier EU-landen bij de belangrijkste verkopers naar het Midden-Oosten zitten: Frankrijk, VK, Duitsland, en Italië.

De Koreaanse site Chosunilbo citeerde dat Zuid-Korea met 7.8 miljard aan contracten de grootste wapenimporteur was in 2014. Dat is niet iets om trots op te zijn, maakten activisten uit vier continenten in oktober bij een wapenbeurs in Seoel duidelijk.
Wat mij betreft gaat de zoekmachine vrijwel onmiddellijk op 'Netherlands'. En ja hoor in 2014 scoorde Nederland, met een negende plek, hoog als het ging om het sluiten van contracten. Het ging om een waarde van 900 miljoen dollar. Dat voorspelt hoge ogen bij wapenleveranties in de jaren erna. Nu al staat Nederland (2007-2014) als exporteur op een elfde plek. Het rapport onderstreept daarmee een al bekend beeld.

Minder opgemerkt werd een ander Amerikaans rapport dat in december werd uitgegeven. Het zogenaamde WMEAT rapport van het State Department. WMEAT staat voor World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers. Het is een van de handigste overzichten op het gebied van militaire bestedingen, troepensterkte, etc. Maar het loopt met cijfers voor de jaren 2002-2012 hopeloos achter op andere bronnen. The Stockholm International Peace and Reasearch Institute (SIPRI) en the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) publicist van de Military Balance geven de militaire bestedingen over 2014. Beide zijn te raadplegen op het internet en dienen als bron voor wiki voor de militaire uitgaven. Voor wapenexportcijfers gaat vrijwel de hele wereld naar SIPRI dat een scala aan verschillende cijfers goed vindbaar op de site plaatst. De Europese Unie komt vermoedelijk in maart 2016 met de Europese wapenexportcijfers voor 2014. Afgelopen maart kwamen die voor 2013. Ze zijn makkelijk te vinden in de EU export browser van het Europese Netwerk tegen de Wapenhandel (ENAAT). Je ziet in een oogwenk dat onze vrienden in Riyadh nummer twee bestemming zijn voor de mensenrechtenvriendelijke EU.

WMEAT komt daar dus ruimschoots achteraan kakken met cijfers voor 2012 in december 2015. Dan kan je wel stellen dat wapenexporten goed zijn voor het terugdringen van de staatsschuld. Dit aangezien de verhouding in- en export ruimschoots uitvalt in het voordeel van het tweede, $102 miljard per jaar (overigens een opvallend hoog bedrag) versus $4 miljard. Het is wel een opmerking waarin iets wringt. De teller staat op twintig biljoen schuld – meer dan 100 % van het BBP – en is vooral ontstaan door oorlogsvoering en militaire aankopen. De VS zouden met deze staat van dienst de EU niet inkomen. WMEAT komt ook met opvallende cijfers dat in de periode 2002-2012 de VS ruim driekwart van de wapenhandel voor haar rekening nam, de EU ongeveer een tiende, Rusland een twintigste en China minder dan een 2%, maar daar gaat de pers drie jaar later niet meer voor zitten.

Voor precieze gegevens rond Nederlandse wapenexporten kan je niet om de site van Stop Wapenhandel heen. Deze organisatie liet in een tegenrapport bij het jaarlijkse wapenexportrapport van de overheid en de maandoverzichten van vergunningen voor exporten en doorvoer niet alleen weten dat de Nederlandse wapenhandel in 2014 een all time high bereikte, maar ook waar de schoen wringt. Want zoals een schrijver het in de Pittsburgh Post-Gazette formuleerde 'Vrede op aarde? Niet totdat de VS stopt met wapenhandel en oorlogvoeren.' Om die harde werkelijkheid gaat het uiteindelijk. VS kan je vervangen door EU, Nederland, België, Vlaanderen of welk land of regio met een eigen wapenexportbeleid dan ook. Wapenexportbeleid en -controle zijn er niet voor niets. Maar van strikt toepassen is geen sprake; economische en machtspolitieke argumenten hebben nog steeds de overhand. Het lijkt dan ook zinnig in het kader van de strijd voor vrede nog wat vaker de pijlen op de Regering te richten dan landen elders te beschuldigen die kunnen doen wat ze doen door onze militaire en economische steun. Wat informatie over 2015 zou daarbij helpen.

Martin Broek

Geschreven voor Konfrontatie