Raytheon - JSOW - cluster munitions - video

<------Rhodri Morgan first minster of Wales "The reference to cluster bombs and Raytheon by campaigners is a simple guilt by association argument with absolutely no supporting evidence. They should be ashamed of themselves for using such a smear as a subsitiute for intelligent argument" ------>

Raytheon JSOW

BLU-108/B Submunition

Cluster munitions: the stigma grows

Recommendation of June 16, 2005 on the exclusion of companies that are involved in production of cluster munitions

Recommendation of June 16, 2005 on the exclusion of companies that are involved in production of cluster munitions (pdf)

Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site, 3 JSOW (Joint Stand Off Weapon), and cluster munitions to these: “JSOW integrates the BLU-97 combined effects bomblets and the BLU-108 sensor fused weapon submunitions for area targets or armoured vehicles”. These are considered as cluster weapons. This information is confirmed by Jane’s Information Group. The company has not replied to the communication from Norges Bank. The Advisory Council recommends that Raytheon Company should be excluded from the Government Petroleum Fund

Javelin contain flechettes -----> -----> ---->

The French word flechette means "little arrow" or dart projectile of steel that is sharp and pointed with a vaned tail for stable flight. means "little arrow" or dart projectile of steel that is sharp and pointed with a vaned tail for stable flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette

Landmine action Weapons firm’s role in St Athan academy condemned (UK) CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the Assembly Government for backing a huge military training project, despite the involvement of a weapons company previously linked to cluster bombs. http://www.landmine.de/en.titel/en.search.output/index.html?entry=en.news.0f39d5c459040000

News: Financial minefield of moral decisions…..a report by Belgian non-government organisation Network Vlaanderen, titled Explosive Investments, exposed ANZ as being part of credit arrangements to cluster munition manufacturers Raytheon and Thales. A credit agreement dated March 24, 2005, showed that ANZ extended $US35 million to Raytheon, maker of the AGM-154 joint standoff weapon. The weapon is an air-delivered bomb with several variants that contain cluster munitions. The AGM-154A contains 145 BLU 97/B submunitions. US forces have used the BLU 97/B submunitions extensively in several conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. It has been shown to leave behind unexploded "duds" that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians, after conflicts have passed.

News: Local authorities investing over £700m in arms trade General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon all produce cluster munitions or their components, according to Human Rights Watch.

News: Officials: Hundreds of Iraqis Killed By Faulty Grenades Battlefield commanders have reported failure rates as high as 40 percent. Washington - Hundreds and possibly thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed or maimed by outdated, defective U.S. cluster weapons that lack a safety feature other countries have added, according to observers, news reports and officials……… Britain, which joined the United States in the fight to oust Saddam Hussein, fired 2,000 artillery cluster weapons in the war. All were equipped with Israeli-made grenades with secondary fuses and a 2 percent dud rate, the British Defense Ministry said…….. "The funding for R and D [research and development] in the Army was minimal, and fusing was the last on the list," said Bruce Mueller, a former Army lieutenant colonel who managed the fuse program for defense contractor Raytheon. "They develop weapons, then they develop munitions, and after they develop munitions, the last thing they worry about is how to fuse them."

News: Oil-rich Norway hires philosopher as moral compass
News: W. E. Gutman: Land mines and morals ... fail to the Chief!
News: Norway divests shares in arms manufacturers (NORWAY)
News: Norway divests shares in arms manufacturers (NORWAY)
News: A Further Eight Companies Excluded from the Petroleum Fund
News: ING disinvests (partly) from controversial weapons