Qinetiq JV wins MoD contract

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Metrix, a joint venture between defence technology group QinetiQ and facilities management group Sodexo, has won a £31m contract from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The contract is part of the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Training Review (DTR) Package 1 PFI Project.

The DTR Package 1 Project aims to transform the way the MoD delivers specialist engineering, communications and information systems training on a Defence-wide basis.

Metrix will use Raytheon, the US technology company specialising in defence, homeland security and global training services, as the main sub-contractor to undertake the work which will provide the foundations to enable QinetiQ-led teams to deliver the technical trade training.

http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=2953111

Ask the public..Raytheon make weapons to kill people, cluster bombs, war profiteers...

No mention of what this costing the public.

More Raytheon Protests - now in Flintshire!

Demo for nine peace protesters in Flintshire

Daily Post, UK -DEMONSTRATORS held a protest outside a the Flintshire plant of a defence industry firm in support of peace activists prosecuted for occupying the firm’s ...

Solidarity demo at Broughton on day Raytheon 9 trial collapsesIndymedia UK, Campaigners from Wrexham, Chester and beyond held a demonstration outside the Broughton Raytheon factory this afternoon in solidarity with the Raytheon 9. ...

see http://www.antimetrix.org/

March to stop the military academy

Stop the War NOW: MARCH TO STOP THE UK MILITARY ACADEMY
Mass demonstration called by Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign
Supported by UK Stop the War Coalition
Assemble 1.30 pm, Cathays Park
(opposite Museum/City Hall, Cardiff
Saturday 26 April

Bring placards, banners, drums, people etc
In the summer of 2006, hundreds of people protested in Cardiff against the war on Lebanon. The Israeli military dropped half-a-million cluster bombs on Lebanon supplied by arms companies like Raytheon. Now Raytheon has been invited to Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government to help run a huge, privatised military academy near Cardiff. It's time to get back onto the streets! Anything we can do in Wales to prevent the State waging war on its terms can only be of help to those resisting in the frontline in the Middle East and beyond.

Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign supporters include:
Aberystwyth Peace & Justice Network, Bangor Peace & Justice GroupCaernarfon Peace & Justice Group, Cardiff Anarchist Network, Cardiff Justice & Peace Group, Cardiff RESPECT/Left Party, Church Action Against Poverty, CND Cymru, CND (Swansea), Communist Party of Wales, Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales), Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society), Cynefin y Werin, Green Party (Wales), Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Penarth Justice & Peace Group, Permanent Revolution, Quakers (Caerleon), RESPECT/Left Party, Socialist Labour Party (Wales), South Wales Anarchists, Stop the War Coalition (UK), Stop the War (Bristol)Stop the War (Cardiff), Stop the War (Swindon), Stop the War (Wrekin), Women in Black (Abergavenny), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Wrexham Peace & Justice Centre
To add your name or organisation to the list of supporters or for more information about the campaign, email: no2militaryacademy@inbox.com
Imagine a world in which the armed forces are trained by arms dealers.And we subsidise their profits.
That world will become reality unless we stop the proposed school of death at St Athan.The creation of a military super-academy at St Athan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a done deal in January 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history, involving £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no debate in either Westminster or the Welsh Assembly (Senedd). A promise of 5500 local jobs was trumpeted loudly by an uncritical news media and presented as a great victory for Wales.
No wonder the politicians didn't want any debate. The new super-academy, replacing many smaller centres, means that military training will now be in the hands of shameless profiteers.The winning bidders for the project were the Metrix consortium. This consortium includes Qinetiq, the privatised research and development wing of the MoD. Qinetiq was recently the subject of intense criticism by the National Audit Office. Its privatisation was proposed by MoD managers – who then saw their shares rise 10,000% on the day of the sale! 33.8% of Qinetiq was also bought by the US-based Carlyle Group, a sinister lash-up of politicians and arms dealers with a vested interest in promoting war.Former members of its board include one George W. Bush.
Then there is the US arms manufacturer Raytheon. Raytheon make the missiles which deliver cluster bombs, the horrendous weapons which are estimated to have killed 100,000 people – 98% of them innocent civilians. The world can also thank Raytheon for the depleted uranium weapons which have led to thousands of horribly deformed babies and large increases in cancers in war zones and beyond.Raytheon, Qinetiq and friends will not just be training UK armed forces at St Athan. They will train any soldiers, sailors and air force personnel that are willing to pay for the privilege. And like all PFIs, the St Athan academy will be subsidised by the taxpayer, and if necessary, bailed out with public money.There has never been a detailed breakdown of the jobs the academy will bring. However, even Metrix admit that many of the military trainers will relocate from elsewhere. Every PFI has secured profits by cutting costs. St Athan will mean less MoD jobs overall, and the poorest pay and conditions for lowskilled workers.
In any case, imagine what else could be done with £14 billion! With hospitals and schools closing throughout Wales and the UK, with a desperate need to improve social facilities, create sustainable sources of energy etc, such public money could be invested in socially useful projects rather than the preparation for future wars of occupation like Iraq.
If this development goes ahead, 21 st century Wales will be become a militarised, security-obsessed nightmare. If you want to stop the war profiteers in their tracks, support the campaign and raise it in your union, student union, workplace and community.

Protest Against the Military Academy!

Campaigners Against St Athan Military Academy protest at The Senedd on a very cold and windy day!

Eventually Leanne Wood appeared and spoke to some protesters.

Rhrodri Morgan woludn't emerge to answer our questions.

Jobs Con on St Athan by Bryant, Morgan.....

Whatever happened to mature debate? Jill Evans MEP

Jill Evans is the only Welsh politican to speak out against the mega military academy proposals! Yet plaid policy is absolutely against privatisation so they speak out against post offices closing, traffic wardens been privatised but military training.....why not??

This contract will be the largest PFI/PPP project ever undertaken by the Ministry of Defence and will be the largest partnering arrangement ever undertaken in the UK. A Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for DTR in simplistic terms means that the winning consortia will effectively own all of the real estate and services for training for the next 25 years. For this they will be paid an annual sum and must, by law, make a profit for their shareholders. The contract is worth £19 billion.

Politicians couldn't make a privatised railway work so it is pretty unbelievable that we even suggest privatising military training never mind applauding it especially when it is to be delivered by private arms companies that are excluded from any ethical investing country, bank or charity. What damage could be done here and as a private business they will train whoever pays! Just who are we inviting to Wales?

So why do plaid support them dumbly emm.. because of the jobs...but what jobs? They have been given figures that are wrong. The Government has lied! Rhrodri Morgan is lying. The assembly have an office and staff dedicated to making this academy happen what ever and it isn't because half the deal has been already dumped by the MOD!!

And what about more autonomy for Wales? Isn't that jeopardised by having ALL uk military training in Wales?

Balance of ideology and pragmatism for Plaid ic Wales, United Kingdom -PLAID Cymru entered Government with rank- and-file members in good heart and high spirits. Labour, the

Plaid slammed over St Athan criticism ic Wales, PLAID Cymru was yesterday accused of endangering Wales’ chances of winning a Ministry of Defence training contract potentially worth up to £4bn. ... Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats had attempted ...

Plaid MEP questions defence academy ePolitix, A row has broken out over the Plaid Cymru vice-president's questioning of a new military training academy in Wales. Ahead of a meeting of the party's ruling

Blog news

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Speak now - or forever hold your peace Huw Lewis

South Wales Blunderers David Jones MP for Clwyd West; Shadow Minister for Wales

Great principles: atrocious politics Paul Flynn

St Athan Slaughter

Dragon's Eye Glyn Davies Tory Politican

School Jobs Con!

Tinkering, Tailoring, but not Soldiering and Spying

Will Raytheon pull out of St Athan Deal!

I heard a rumour that Raytheon are becoming lukewarm on DTR package 1. Apparently they had a bigger stake in package 2, which of course is now defunct.

Makes sense - Pull out Raytheon - out of St athan and out of Wales!

Support for resolution on military academy.

Wales FESC, part of the new union for lecturers UCU, will now back the resolution at the upcoming Stop The War conference.

The proposed super-academy represents, among other things, an insidious development in the privatisation of education and training. Among the arms merchants and ex-MOD insiders of the Metrix consortium which will run the academy is that great British institution the Open University.

The campaign to stop the school of death at St Athan received a minor setback when SWP members and supporters ensured Cardiff Stop The War Coalition rejected our resolution for the STW conference! The resolution is already on the conference agenda but support from Cardiff STW would clearly have increased its chances of success.

Resolution on the St Athan Military Academy
This coalition notes:
The MOD’s decision to both centralise and privatise its training at a new complex at RAF St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, to open fully in 2013.
The award of a £14bn government contract for this to the Metrix consortium, involving among others Qinetiq, a privatised wing of the MOD led by ex-MOD John Chisholm, and Raytheon, manufacturer of the cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons that have killed and maimed civilians in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.
The lack of public consultation on the project and lack of criticism or even debate in the mass media, or from supposedly anti-war MPs Welsh AMs, or the Welsh TUC.

This coalition believes:
That the new complex, on a scale hitherto unseen in the UK, will be the site of training of all branches of the armed forces for the “War on Terror”; in other words, for further war on the nations of the Global South and for the suppression of protest and civil liberties in the UK and throughout the world.
That the complex will represent a significant militarisation of the Welsh economy with a major impact on the lives of South Wales residents.
That the Welsh Assembly government has sold this package on the promise of jobs for South Wales, but (a) most jobs at St Athan will involve the redeployment of skilled workers and teachers from elsewhere, leaving low-paid unskilled work for the local labour force, and (b) the closure of training centres throughout the UK will actually lead to greater unemployment overall.
That it is contradictory to oppose imperialist wars, or the assault on civil liberties, if we do not equally oppose the training for these under the pretext of our ‘defence’.

This coalition resolves:
To oppose the creation of the St Athan academy.
To organise a mass protest at the site of the academy and to facilitate events throughout the UK educating people about the reality of the academy.
To win the support of trade unions, student unions and activist groups in building an international campaign; to call on MPs, MEPs and AMs to support this.
To call on the UK government to solve the problem of unemployment in South Wales and areas affected by MOD closures by instead investing in socially useful jobs in health, education, construction etc, and the development of peaceful and environmentally friendly technology.

Wales is fast-becoming the capital of war in the western world.

Why?

Earlier this year Labour's Rhodri Morgan, Andrew Davies and members of the new coalition with Plaid Cymru celebrated what they claimed was a spectacular coup in bringing a privately operated high tech military training academy in St. Athens, South Wales. It represents the largest government investment in Welsh history, and its educational aspect would be a collaboration between the RAF and the Open University.

But this project would also open the doors to some of the most notorious weapons companies in the world. As a peace activist, who campaigned vigorously to help create the Wales Nuclear Free Forum, I find this development deeply disturbing, and the deafening silence from our politicians even more so.Amongst the unscrupulous arms manufacturers involved in the deal are Matrix , Raytheon, Carlyle and QinetiQ.

Raytheon is one of the world’s largest missile producers. Its bombs contain depleted uranium tips, which have caused havoc across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Lebanon. It provided Israel with the cluster bombs which have killed and maimed Lebanese children, and continue to kill long after last year's invasion.Amnesty International expressed concern about Raytheon’s new silent guardian heat ray weapons which can be used for torture.

Many peace-loving countries, including Norway and Belgium , have called for disinvestment into these companies. There is a strong nuclear component to the proposed school. The Royal Navy School of Marine Engineering, which contains the Nuclear Systems Group is projected to move from HMS Sultan to St. Athens by 2017. Naval Officers who are responsible for the Trident nuclear submarines will be trained at St. Athens, thereby linking Wales directly with the submarine base at Scotland.

The new military academy will train personnel from all over the world.Aside from the threat posed by having nuclear weapons on our soil, the conventional weapons involved at St Athans raise serious moral issues .Between 2001 and 2004 the Ministry of Defence provided military training for over 12,000 personnel from 137 countries, many with poor human rights records. Matrix is already travelling the world promoting itself at arms fairs, drumming up business for St. Athens.

All of this raises the prospect of Wales being used as a training ground for any corrupt dictator who happens to have a million pounds to spare.Unions representing military training staff are threatening strike action over the privatisation of the military. Labour and Plaid leaders trumpeted that the new development would bring a projected 5,000+ jobs into the area. But a closer analyst does not support this claim. Most of the military trainers will be transferred from other MOD sites, and it is hardly likely that any of the new employment would be for local residents except the cleaning, cooking and litter picking. .As Vice Chairman of CND Cymru, and Vice Chairman of the UNA branch in South Wales, I chaired a well-attended UN Day of Peace Meeting. On the panel were Bruce Kent, Norman Kember, Milan Rai and Emily Johns. W

When the chairperson Julie Morgan, Labour MP for Cardiff North, asked for written questions, the majority were demanding to know about the St. Athens military school. There was a deafening, shameful silence on the issue from the leadership on the platform.What people must realise, especially these politicians who are supposed to speak for the Welsh people, is that when you train people to kill they will kill. When you train people to use sophisticated weapons, they will use them. Modern history has shown that when manufacturers like Raytheon, Carlyle etc produces these horrific weapons of mass destruction they will inevitably be used. I don’t want Wales to be recognised as the capital of war.

I want Wales to be known as the capital of peace.Yours faithfully,

RAY DAVIESVICE CHAIR CND CYMRUVICE CHAIR CARDIFF UNA BRANCH

Raytheon's pain-ray weapon

Journalist tries out Raytheon's pain-ray weapon: "No sir, I don't ...Michael Hanlon of the Daily Mail tries out a table-top demonstration model of Raytheon's pain-ray weapon, dubbed "Silent Guardian." He say it hurts. Built by the US firm Raytheon, it is part of its "Directed Energy Solutions" programme.

Norway says no 2 Private military corporations investment

Norwegians have reused to invest in these dirty dealers but why are we welcoming them to Wales?

"Private military corporations become a way [for government officials] to distance themselves and create what we used to call `plausible deniability.'"

Daniel Nelson, former professor at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies "In recent years, soldiers-for-profit have served in Liberia, Pakistan, Rwanda and Bosnia. They have guarded Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, and built the military detention facilities holding Al Qaeda suspects in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They have been an essential part of the American war on drugs in Latin America."

Privatized corporate military operations now draw an estimated $100 billion in business worldwide each year -- much of it going to top U.S. corporations like Halliburton, DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Grumman, and Raytheon. The military-industrial companies that once just created the guns and warplanes now provide mercenary forces for "privately" carrying out the military attacks and defoliation

Blackwater is a highly connected mercenary corporation--based in North Carolina, but with offices in McLean, Virginia, near CIA headquarters. They operate a 5,200-acre state-of-the-art commando training ground in North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp--basically a private military base. It provides privatized training for U.S. military personnel and police.

Norway’s Ethical investments
First to be banished were companies involved in the manufacture of cluster bombs, land mines and nuclear weapons. In addition to Boeing, these included General Dynamics Corp., Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and a host of other mainly U.S.-based defense contractors.

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund, worth about $350 billion, is one of the largest piles of investment capital in the world.

Nearly triple the size of Vanguard's 500 Index Fund and rapidly closing in on the TIAA-CREF's $406 billion College Retirement Equities Fund, Norway's pension fund is the biggest equity owner in Europe and has quietly emerged as a global financial force.

Its money comes from Norway's vast North Sea oil wealth. As the world's third-largest oil exporter -- only Saudi Arabia and Russia export more -- Norway is raking in about $1 billion a week. But instead of using it to underwrite a lavish lifestyle for its royal family or wielding it as a political weapon, the Norwegians are quietly amassing a nest egg to pass on to future generations.

The fund was established in 1990. By late 2004, when its influence in international markets become impossible to ignore, Norway's legislature established the ethics council and spelled out guidelines that prohibit the fund from owning stock in companies responsible for "violations of fundamental humanitarian principles, serious violations of human rights, gross corruption or severe environmental damage."

The Norwegian government likes to believe that its ethical investing policy contributes in some significant way to good corporate behavior.
First to be banished were companies involved in the manufacture of cluster bombs, land mines and nuclear weapons. In addition to Boeing, these included General Dynamics Corp., Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and a host of other mainly U.S.-based defense contractors.

St Athan on line debate

St Athan - Page 2 - urban75 forumsSt Athan Wales/Cymru. ... she could get a press released published in the Western Mail tomorrow opposing or expressing concerns about the Military Academy. ...
Originally Posted by Udo Erasmus.....The key thing is a public statement.If Jill Evans wanted to, she could get a press released published in the Western Mail tomorrow opposing or expressing concerns about the Military Academy. Has she?

Originally Posted by llantwit...quote... Given that the St Athan project is in many ways a public-private partnership with amongst other companies, the missile manufacturer Raytheon you'd think that that'd be reason enough for plaid members to campaign against it....I think it's impossible that Plaid can say it's against the arms trade and not against the 'school for slaughter'/'murder academy'/insert pithy nomencalture here. The whole project is so bound up with arms companies like Raytheon it's unbelievable. Also, it seems a bit odd to decide not to oppose the St Athan Academy on the pragmatic grounds that there's little chance of a campaign actually winning, and then commit your party to the mammoth task of extricating Wales from the arms industry.

Raytheon and Metrix?

Metrix is a consortium is made up of AgustaWestland, City andGuilds, Dalkia, EDS, Laing O'Rourke, Land Securities Trillium, Nord Anglia Education, The Open University, QinetiQ, Raytheon, Serco & Sodexho.

Lets look at RAYTHEON “The Consortium according to Raytheon
http://www.raytheon.co.uk/products/dtr.html brings years of experience as architect and provider of the most innovative in training delivery on a global scale in both the civil market and defence. Metrix will deliver a fresh innovative approach and real value for money. Raytheon has delivered Innovative training to over 400,000 students annually in NASA, General Motors and the US military.” (Raytheon Systems Limited, the UK subsidiary of Raytheon Company)

WTA training video [Windows Media Player format] This is the sort of training soon to be available at St Athans?
"The company today continues to lead in innovation, committed to meeting our customers’ needs with a wide range of technical capabilities and resources. This is illustrated by our involvement in the Defence Training Review (DTR) programme, which the Metrix Consortium won in late 2006. DTR alone is an exceptionally important programme for RSL - it means we are going to be further broadening our skills in the training support sector, and it will entail the recruitment of many new employees to work at a new facility to be built at St Athan" Brian McKeon Raytheon Systems Limited Raytheon Company 80 Park Lane London, England +44(0)1279407300 +44(0)2075695598 brian.mckeon@raytheon.co.uk

Raytheon is the 4th largest US defence contractor, after Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The company is often labelled as America's third largest aerospace company. Raytheon is ranked no. 119 in the 2002 FORTUNE 500 list of America's largest corporations.[4] The company is the world's largest missile-maker.
Raytheon claims to be 'a global leader in defence and government electronics, business and special mission aviation, as well as in areas of weapons manufacture such as air-air missile systems.' In 2000, the company employed 87,200 employees worldwide and had revenues equalling $16.9 billion.
In February 1991 George Bush travelled to Raytheon’s Andover plant in Massachusetts to thank his ‘friend’, retiring chairman Tom Phillips for building what he called the ‘scud busters’

Raytheon’s official history can be found at http://www.raytheon.com/about/history.htm, where their World War II radars are credited as ‘making the Germans feel for the first time like the hunted not the hunters’; their microwaves ‘ put women on the way to avoiding laborious house chores’ and the Patriot missile is credited with ‘changing the course of the [Gulf] War’!10
For a full list of Raytheon's products see their web page: http://www.raytheon.com/products
Online Sales To take advantage of the opportunities opened up by the Internet, Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems agreed to form an online exchange for sales totalling billions of pounds a year. Everything from aircraft and weapons to data services is available on the new exchange. http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=138

Silent Guardian™ Protection System
Silent Guardian™ is a revolutionary less-than-lethal directed energy protectionsystem that employs millimeter wave technology to repel individuals or crowds without ... www.raytheon.com/products/silent_guardian/

Javelin Weapon System Javelin is the world's first one man-portable and employable fire-and-forget medium-range missile system. www.raytheon.com/products/javelin/


Sparrow The Sparrow Missile is a medium-range, all-weather, all-aspect, semi-activeguided missile used in multiple roles by multiple services. www.raytheon.com/products/sparrow/

Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS)
The Phalanx CIWS advanced radar-controlled gun system provides superiordefense against close-in air and surface threats. www.raytheon.com/products/phalanx/
Raytheon Ares Instrument Unit Avionics (IUA)
www.raytheon.com/products/ares/

Non Line of Sight – Launch System (NLOS-LS) The Non Line of Sight –
Launch System (NLOS-LS) is a family of artillery missiles fired from a vertical launcher that can be deployed by ground or air assets throughout ... www.raytheon.com/products/nlos_ls/

The NetFires LLC is a partnership between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile System
The Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Weapon Systemis the world's most modern ship self-defense weapon. www.raytheon.com/products/ram/

TOW Family TOW 2 (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) Weapon System, with the multi-mission TOW 2A, TOW 2B, TOW 2B Aero, and TOW Bunker Buster missiles. www.raytheon.com/products/tow_family/


AIM-9M Sidewinder The AIM-9M is a long term performer in the Sidewinder family of missiles. www.raytheon.com/products/aim_9m/

AGM-65 Maverick Missile The Maverick AGM-65 family of missiles is the versatile, precision strike missile of choice for the US Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and dozens of international ... www.raytheon.com/products/agm_65/

more info..UK .... FYLINGDALES