maandag 17 september 2018

Week 37 in #wapenhandel25tweets

(Gaarne 'liken' of delen als je het nuttig of interessant vindt.
Please like or share if it is helpful or interesting for you.)

Graphic illustration of major Indian weapon program. Fifty six per cent of Indians, some 680 million, lack the means to meet their basic needs. see tweet. And 421 million have a serious hunger problem.

Netherlands / Nederland (see also 19, 20, 23)

A – 110918: Dutch government has supported an armed group in Syria with non-lethal equipment, who by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service has been classified as a terrorist organisation. According to research by Dutch daily Trouw and TV-program Nieuwsuur. [in Dutch] https://nos.nl/uitzending/36064-nieuwsuur.html

France (see also 15)

1 – 100918: Naval Group want to forms partnerships in Egypt to export maintenance and overhaul for the Egyptian navy warships. [in French] https://www.pressreader.com/france/les-echos/20180910/282226601615360

Germany / Deutchland

2 – 120918: Are German ships del;ivered to the KSA used in the blockade against Yemen?
Sind aus Deutschland gelieferte Kriegsschiffe indirekt an Blockade des Jemen beteiligt? https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/sind-aus-deutschland-gelieferte-kriegsschiffe-indirekt-an-blockade-des-jemen-beteiligt--8352752.html via @sternde

3 – 130918: German small arms exports #SLAW with details on numbers, type, value and countries of destination. http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/041/1904193.pdf

Italy / Italia (see 8)

Spain / España

4 – 100918: Globally applauded decision by Spain to stop bombs going to KSA wasn't final Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told senators at a hearing on Monday. She expects talks with the Saudi's would settle the dispute. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/10/spain-holds-talks-with-saudi-arabia-over-weapons-deals/

5 – 130918: Spain will go ahead with the sale of 400 laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, a contract it had decided to halt last week because of the Saudis' role in the war in Yemen, El Periodico newspaper said on Wednesday citing diplomatic sources. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-spain-saudi-arms/spain-to-go-ahead-with-sale-of-bombs-to-saudi-el-periodico

Switzerland / Suisse

6 – 150918: Swiss arms companies make profits, but nethertheless want relaxing of arms export regulations. [in French] Aux armes de la paix, citoyens suisses https://www.24heures.ch/signatures/editorial/armes-paix-citoyens-suisses/story/14196435

Turkey / Türkiye

7 – 100918: Defense contractor indicted for fraud, might be hiding in Turkey. (https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/09/07/defense-contractor-indicted-for-fraud-might-be-hiding-in-turkey/) See also earlier tweet: 6 September 2018: https://twitter.com/martinbroek/status/1037802735448608776


8 – 100918: Turkey’s homegrown helo makes maiden flight. Turkey says it designed the T625 locally, though industry sources note that the platform has strong resemblance to the AW139, made by the Italian-British AgustaWestland. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/10/turkeys-homegrown-helo-makes-maiden-flight/
9 – 130918: Turkey has stepped up arms supplies to Syrian rebels to help them stave off an expected offensive by the Syrian army and its Russian and Iran-backed allies in the northwest near the Turkish frontier, rebel sources told Reuters. https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2018/09/13/Turkey-boosts-arms-to-Syrian-rebels-as-Idlib-attack-looms.html via @AlArabiya_Eng

10 – 160918: The components which are produced by Turkish companies for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program and Turkish participation as a reliable program partner.

UK (see also 8, 16)

11 – 120918: For the first time, a majority of UK Conservative (52%) voters oppose arms sales to the Saudi led coalition on Yemen, the poll taken on 29-30 August showed. This marks an increase from 25 per cent who said they were opposed in June. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-civil-war-uk-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-bombing-emergency-debate-stephen-twigg-a8532191.html

12 – 130918: Arming the Middle East (Kuwait in this case) with Eurofighters. Budget for current fiscal yr includes $1.1 bln to buy Eurofighter aircrafts http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/budget-for-current-fiscal-yr-includes-1-1-bln-to-buy-eurofighter-aircrafts/

REST of the world

Australia

13 – 150918: Report critical of Australian procurement process. THE auditor general has claimed the federal government spent $222m on new Bushmaster vehicles in 2016 solely to keep the Thales Bendigo facility operating. The deal was not value for money for taxpayers. https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/5647250/report-critical-of-bushmaster-hawkei-procurement-process/

Egypt / Mişr (see also 1)

14 – 100918: Gross violator of human rights, Egypt, to get US$1.2 billion in military aid. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/09/09/us-to-release-12-billion-in-military-aid-to-egypt/

15 – 110918: Egypt launches first locally built Gowind corvette fitted with 16 VL-MICA surface-to-air missiles and 8 Exocet MM40 surface-to-surface missiles as well as 1 76 mm, two 20 mm guns and with a Thales (Nederland) -supplied sensor suite. https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=33425&SEO=egypt-launches-first-locally-built-gowind-corvette

Kuwait / Al-Kuwayt (see 12)

Qatar

16 – 160918: UK Defence Secretary and his Qatari counterpart ­unveiled the £5bn contract for 24 Typhoons, together with a package of support and training, in December. However, the final terms are yet to be confirmed and the sale has already been pushed back once. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/09/16/time-running-bae-typhoon-sale-qatar/

Saudi Arabia / Al-Arabiyah as Sa'udiyah (see 2, 4-5, 11)

Syria / Suriyah (see Netherlands, 9)

Yemen / Al-Yaman (see also 2, 11)

17 – 140918: Spain backed away, but still interresting. @PWezeman "seeking a military solution to the situation in #Yemen seems hopeless," restricting arms sales is a viable way to apply pressure and expedite a diplomatic framework that may ultimately end the conflict. http://www.yerepouni-news.com/archives/432411

18 – 160918: How Congress Can End the War in Yemen. From 2013 to 2017 Washington supplied more than 60% of Saudi arms. Congress has not directly used its power to force the president to remove US armed forces from participation in a war. Until now. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/09/14/how-congress-can-end-the-war-in-yemen/ via @nybooks

DEFENCE-INDUSTRY

Fokker

19 – 130918: Fokker wil tijdens OBD jongeren enthousiast maken voor werken in de wapenindustrie - Hoogeveen - ... https://www.hoogeveenschecourant.nl/nieuws/hoogeveen/514733/fokker-wil-tijdens-obd-jongeren-enthousiast-maken-voor-werken-in-vliegtuigtuigindustrie.html

20 – 130918: Fokker alive and kicking components for Apaches and F-16, both used at the Yemen battlefield. http://broekstukken.blogspot.com/2018/09/fokker-alive-and-kicking-components-for.html

MBDA

21 – 130918: A plea to privitize the party State owned French arms industry, like Safran, Nexter, Naval Group, Thales, Dassault Aviation, Airbus and MBDA [in French]

Thales (see 15, 21)

WEAPENS

F-35 (see also 10)

22 – 150918: Again most expensive weapon system ever gets bad press. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2018/09/14/software-upgrades-lead-delay-f-35-operational-testing/

23 – 160918: Dutch SP asks questions on the consequences (also for the Netherlands) of canceling Turkish participation in F-35 project. https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/kamervragen/detail?id=2018Z15761&did=2018D43572

Robot weapons / AI

24 – 100918: Leaders at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency #DARPA announced Sept. 7 a $2 billion initiative, known as AI Next, that aims to substantially improve artificial intelligence research. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/09/10/darpas-new-2-billion-initiative-for-next-level-ai/

25 – 140918: “A prohibition treaty is urgently needed before massive international investment goes into LAWs,” says Noel Sharkey professor AI & robotics. With DARPA announcing a new $2 billion investment in "next wave" military AI, time is running out. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a23133118/us-ai-robots-warfare/

Small Arms (see 3)

OTHER

Corruption and fraud (see 7)

Research and activism

26 – 100918: We've just heard that Roxel missile is not accepting any deliveries today due to our vigil. #protestingworks #stoparmingsaudi

27 – 130918: The US Export Control Reform Act and Possible New Controls on Emerging and Foundational Technologies, part I-III https://www.akingump.com/en/news-insights/the-export-control-reform-act-of-2018-and-possible-new-controls.html


This is a selection from a larger amount of tweets. Tweets with a relation the Netherlands, arms trade and defence-industry weight heavier in the selection. If you want to have them daily see http://twitter.com/martinbroek