Top 10 who profit from war!

COVER STORY

defence war factories

 

Top 10 who profit from war!

They say the arms industry never changes its leaders who control the demand and supply, dominate the world’s weapons market and its bulk profits. Their interest is to keep wars going. Corruption, bribery, espionage, forgery, fudging of records, fraud, blackmail, drugs and prostitutes — they consider nothing as unethical or immoral in their business. Wars come at a price… each bullet, each rocket costs. Wonder why, the top arms companies are in the US or Western Europe?

 

The US arms giant and manufacturer of F-16, F/A-22 fighter jets, spy planes Hellfire, Javelin missiles and Patriot missiles, which cost $91 million per missile, is the world’s #1 military contractor as well as the world’s largest arms exporter getting $105 from each taxpayer and $228 from each household in the US. In 2001 the company was awarded a $200 billion deal – the world’s largest weapons contract ever – to build the Joint Strike Fighter, a ‘next-generation’ combat jet that would eventually replace the aircraft used by the US Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. The SEC is investigating insider trading and falsifying of accounts.

 

This British aerospace and defence contractor sells around $32.9 billion of arms and is the largest military contractor in Europe. The BAE range of aircraft, defence electronics, vehicles, naval vessels and small arms include M2/M3 Bradley fighting vehicle, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Type 45 destroyer and Astute-class nuclear submarines. BAE reportedly paid bribes through a network of middlemen, Caribbean and Swiss bank accounts to win contracts across the world for fighter planes. It is now paying $450m in fines after pleading guilty of false statements and accounting practices in Saudi Arabia and Tanzania. BAE chairman Dick Olver admitted commission payments to a marketing adviser for radars sold to an African country in 1999. Another investigation into bribery in the Al-Yamamah deal was reportedly dropped at the behest of Tony Blair on the ground that it might upset relations with the Arab kingdom and threaten national security. The Saudi leaders were threatening to stop intelligence cooperation on terrorism. BAE Systems was fined $450 million for corruption in Europe and Middle East. BAE even held talks with Libya while the arms embargo was still in place. BAE Systems has faced many investigations and was fined $400 million for attempting to defraud the US and paid £30 million to UK for accounting ‘mistakes’ – setting up shell companies to facilitate bribes and bag deals. A three-year old JV between BAE and Mahindra ended in a divorce recently. BAE had invested $5.83 million in the $21.5-million JV to get 26 per cent equity in Mahindra Defense Systems – the maximum permissible in India. With its headquarters in Delhi and manufacturing facilities in Faridabad, Mahindra Defense Systems was making specialised military vehicles and developing a mine-protected vehicle for the Indian Army...Read More