About BAE SYSTEMS:BAE SYSTEMS is a systems company, innovating for a safer world. BAE SYSTEMS employs nearly 100,000 people including joint ventures, and has annual sales of around $19 billion. The company offers a global capability in air, sea, land and space with a world-class prime contracting ability supported by a range of key skills. BAE SYSTEMS designs, manufactures and supports military aircraft, surface ships, submarines, radar, avionics, communications, electronics, guided weapon systems and a range of other defence products.
BAE Systems is Europe's largest arms exporter. BAE Systems is dedicated to producing innovative and high-specification ways of killing and maiming people. Satisfied BAE customers include Saddam Hussein in Iraq, General Pinochet in Chile, and the House of Saud. Are you a feudal Middle Eastern dictatorship that tortures your political opponents - and innocent British citizens? BAE Systems says: No problem! We just want your cash.
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http://www.angloarabia.com /
Carlyle Interested in BAE's Shipbuilding Unit, Telegraph Says
July 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group, whose senior advisers have included former President George H.W. Bush, has expressed interest in buying BAE Systems Plc's shipbuilding business, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing sources.
The paper said Carlyle hasn't decided if an offer would include BAE's submarine operations at Barrow-in-Furness, England, and the sale of Britain's only submarine business to a foreign company may be politically sensitive.
BAE's Chief Executive Mike Turner said July 12 that Europe's largest weapons maker is in talks with several ``interested parties'' about selling its unprofitable shipbuilding unit, which makes Type 45 destroyers and Astute submarines. The company hasn't yet outlined what assets would be included in a sale.
Any bidder for Barrow would compete with DML, which runs the Devonport Royal Dockyard, and is 51 percent owned by Halliburton Co., the oilfield contractor led by Vice President Dick Cheney before he returned to politics in 2000, the paper said. The U.K.'s VT Group Plc has also said it's interested in BAE's shipbuilding yards in Barrow and Glasgow, Scotland.
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http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=a ...
From The Sunday Times
Snip
David Leppard and Robert Winnett
BRITAIN’S biggest defence company has been accused by a whistleblower of operating a £60m “slush fund” to channel “bribes” to members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family. BAE Systems now faces a criminal investigation over allegations that it used Peter Gardiner, a reputable travel agent from St Albans, Hertfordshire, to lavish its Saudi clients with gifts and luxury holidays.
Gardiner has given details of the payments in interviews with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Speaking publicly for the first time, he told The Sunday Times that he had spent £60m on BAE’s behalf. “It was an enormous amount of money. It’s more a question of what we didn’t spend it on than what we did,” said Gardiner.
The slush fund — spent by Gardiner over 13 years from 1989 and 2002 — provided a £170,000 Rolls-Royce, other luxury cars, London apartments, private air travel and accommodation in five-star hotels in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Paris and New York. Under separate arrangements, middlemen also arranged prostitutes for some dignitaries.
The largesse was extended to Saudi officials and members of the country’s large royal family who controlled the kingdom’s arms procurement, the chief source of BAE’s income over the past 18 years.
more
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1190953,00 ...
By Sylvia Pfeifer (Filed: 25/07/2004)
An American private equity group with close links to the Bush administration has emerged as a leading contender to acquire the shipbuilding business of BAE Systems, Britain's largest defence company.Carlyle, which specialises in defence deals, is known for its links to the White House.
Until last year it counted George Bush Sr, the former US president, among its advisers. George W Bush, the US president, once served on the board of directors of Caterair, an airline catering company owned by Carlyle. James Baker, the former US secretary of state, and John Major, the former prime minister, both hold senior positions in the private equity group.
Carlyle has not yet decided whether its possible offer would include BAE's submarine operations at Barrrow-in-Furness. However, the sale of what is Britain's only submarine business to a foreign company could be politically sensitive.
Any bidder for Barrow will face competition from DML, the company that runs the Devonport Royal Dockyard. DML is 51 per cent owned by Halliburton, the US oil services company that used to be run by Dick Cheney, the US vice-president.
Analysts say one possibility would be for DML to link up with either VT or Carlyle to buy the yards. However, it is still not certain that BAE will proceed with the sale. The company has yet to issue a formal sales memorandum
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http://www.money.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml= /...
BAE and its Electronic Warfare Weaponry Division (IE Contracts with HAARP, Navy, Air Force)
How and why was electronic warfare carried out in rural Tennessee?
From the known profile of electronic weaponry, the electronic attack upon WJKM appears to have been caused by a tactical electromagnetic weapon, emitting a directed electromagnetic plasma, beam, pulse, etc. at the target. Electronic weapons with this capability are known, and can be land mounted in a facility like the former power plant, mounted in portable facilities like vans, trucks, helicopters or airplanes.
Electronic weapons may even be space-based, on satellite platforms. This reporter has personally met with an Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon who confirmed the existence of such secret space-based weapons as early as 1977.
An alternative electronic warfare delivery system may involve newly constructed relays for the HAARP installation in Alaska. The potential tactical electronic warfare applications of HAARP are under investigation. Serious public interest researchers maintain that HAARP's electromagnetic energy may cause effects such as earthquakes, such as occurred on July 7 in Hartsville. Electromagnetic weapons have been used in tectonic warfare, intentionally causing earthquakes. Electromagnetic pulse energy accompanies most earthquakes. Research shows that ultra low frequencies emitted by the HAARP installation may affect the human limbic system, and be used for mood management and mind control.
The close resemblance of the Hartsville attack to other U.S. Air Force electronic warfare led to speculation that radio station WJKM may have been chosen as a test target for a clandestine electronic warfare unit located within the power facility, or to which the power facility serves as electronic relay point. The likelihood that the electronic attack was accidental, rather than an intentional military test, is low, given that the targets were media outlets.
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http://www.ecologynews.com/cuenews31.html BAE Purchases Manufacturing Contract HAARP antennaesWashington (SPX) Jun 14, 2004 - The Office of Naval Research has awarded BAE Systems a $35.4 million contract to manufacture 132 high frequency (HF) transmitters for installation in the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program's (HAARP) phased array antenna system. The contract was finalized April 19 with BAE Systems Information & Electronic Warfare Systems in Washington, D.C.
The HAARP program collects and assesses data to advance knowledge of the physical and electrical properties of the Earth's ionosphere. "We look forward to contributing to this critical program. This is an opportunity for BAE Systems to play an important role in expanding knowledge of the Earth's ionosphere.
Significant potential applications include long-range communication, sensing and satellite vulnerability to nuclear effects," said Ramy Shanny, BAE Systems vice president and general manager for Advanced Technologies (AT).
In 1992, AT was awarded a contract to design and build the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI), the HAARP program's primary tool used to study ionospheric physics. The IRI is currently composed of 48 antenna elements and has a power capacity of 960,000 watts.
When installed, the additional 132 transmitters will give HAARP a 3.6 mega-watt capacity. The HAARP build-out is jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
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http://www.spacedaily.com/news/missiles-04zi.html BAE SYSTEMS North America has reached a definitive agreement with Advanced Power Technologies, Inc. (APTI), to purchase the corporation for $27 million in cash. APTI, a private company with headquarters in Washington, D.C., focuses on intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance exploitation and information processing for defence, civil and commercial uses. APTI's core competencies include radio frequency (RF) and optical engineering, communications and networking, signal and data exploitation and knowledge creation.
Other disciplines include microwave engineering; antenna design and development; optical sensors, plasma and shock physics; advanced ordnance systems; non-destructive testing; signal and image processing; and digital control systems, including industrial-based process controls.
...
Mark Ronald, president and chief executive officer, BAE SYSTEMS North America said, "APTI's demonstrated performance, growth and high quality technical workforce align well with BAE SYSTEMS growth strategy in network centric warfare and information operations.
...
The defence firm and the slush fund
Robert Winnett and David Leppard
FOR the Saudi princes and princesses it was just another luxury trip to the paradise island of Oahu in Hawaii. Under the shadow of Diamond Head, the island’s volcano, they enjoyed the run of one of the world’s best hotels while spending thousands in gourmet restaurants and designer boutiques.
The party of 50 people checked into its usual floor of suites at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental hotel. It has its own dolphins in a private blue lagoon, spas and “beach butlers” to provide face sprays, cooling drinks and sunshades. They hired a fleet of cars and after a few days travelled in a private Boeing 707 to another Hawaiian island, Maui, to stay at the five-star Grand Wailea hotel. The total cost of the trip in August 1998 was more than £250,000, including £25,000 on car hire.
For the Saudis, such holidays are part of the trappings of their royal status and influence in the oil-rich desert kingdom. But the trip to Oahu and similar jaunts are now attracting the attention of Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
This weekend, details of the trip and others funded by BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence company, have been disclosed by a whistleblower to The Sunday Times.
more
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1190346,0 ...
BAE probed on £60m Saudi slush fund
From The Sunday Times
Snip
David Leppard and Robert Winnett
BRITAIN’S biggest defence company has been accused by a whistleblower of operating a £60m “slush fund” to channel “bribes” to members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family. BAE Systems now faces a criminal investigation over allegations that it used Peter Gardiner, a reputable travel agent from St Albans, Hertfordshire, to lavish its Saudi clients with gifts and luxury holidays.
Gardiner has given details of the payments in interviews with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Speaking publicly for the first time, he told The Sunday Times that he had spent £60m on BAE’s behalf. “It was an enormous amount of money. It’s more a question of what we didn’t spend it on than what we did,” said Gardiner.
The slush fund — spent by Gardiner over 13 years from 1989 and 2002 — provided a £170,000 Rolls-Royce, other luxury cars, London apartments, private air travel and accommodation in five-star hotels in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Paris and New York. Under separate arrangements, middlemen also arranged prostitutes for some dignitaries.
The largesse was extended to Saudi officials and members of the country’s large royal family who controlled the kingdom’s arms procurement, the chief source of BAE’s income over the past 18 years.
From:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1190953,00 ...
BAE wins £1bn Hawk contract
from the Guardian
Wednesday September 3, 2003
BAE Systems, Britain's biggest weapons maker, today clinched a contentious £1bn order to supply Hawk training aircraft to India, in a contract for which Tony Blair personally lobbied.
The deal, in negotiation for more than a decade, has sparked much political contention in Britain.
(snip)
Critics have argued that the sale lays the British government open to charges of hypocrisy, as it was pushing for a big arms deal at the same time as playing peacemaker between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
ales to India and Pakistan, despite political tension between the two regional rivals.
more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1034880,0 ...
400 boxes of documents --- from Traveller’s World
Although such hospitality is considered routine in some Third World countries, it is a criminal offence for British companies to pay bribes to overseas officials. Fraud investigators are also concerned about the way the payments were described in the company’s accounts.
The SFO is now studying Gardiner’s statement, together with the contents of nearly 400 boxes of documents that he has volunteered from Traveller’s World, his company.
Last week Gardiner said his company had acted entirely properly. He approached the SFO in March and has been helping them and the police uncover full details of the slush fund since then. The possibility of a criminal investigation into BAE marks a new low for the defence company, once the darling of new Labour. It has fallen out of favour after being accused of massive overspending on a series of Ministry of Defence contracts.
Gardiner’s evidence spans much of the period of the Al-Yamamah arms deal, Britain’s biggest export contract. It resulted in the sale of more than £20 billion worth of aircraft, such as Tornado and Hawk jets, and other military equipment to the oil-rich state.
Whitehall officials said last week they were shocked by the scale of the alleged slush fund. The government is determined to show that all cases of alleged corruption will be fully investigated, but the case is highly sensitive.
more
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1190953,00 ...
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