Boeing, Lockheed form joint venture to build death rockets with our money

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Boeing, Lockheed Martin to form joint venture to build rockets

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of the nation's largest defense contractors, The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., said late Monday they have agreed to create a joint venture to produce rockets for the U.S. military.

>>>>The joint venture, to be named United Launch Alliance, would be the sole provider of rocket launches to be used by the U.S. Air Force, NASA and other government agencies.

>>>>The move comes just two months after the Air Force lifted a 20-month ban prohibiting Boeing from bidding on satellite launch contracts, saying the Chicago-based company had corrected problems that led to accusations that it stole information from Lockheed Martin in 1998.

>>>>In a joint news release, the two companies said United Launch Alliance would be based in Denver and structured as a 50-50 venture. The new business would combine services currently provided separately by Boeing's integrated defense division and Lockheed's space systems company for launches of each company's respective rockets — the Boeing Delta and Lockheed Atlas rockets.



In order to replace weapons used in Afghanistan, and in concert with the military conflict in Iraq, most U.S. weapons makers have increased production. Bombs are big business again and the Bush administration has opened the candy store, exporting death, conquest, and perpetual war.

With a share of 24% of U.S. arms exports, Lockheed-Martin is the world's largest arms exporting company. Lockheed leads the pack of defense contractors who do business with the U.S. with valuable Pentagon contracts worth a total of nearly $30 billion and an advertised $70 billion backlog. Lockheed Martin now has over $77 billion in federal contracts, primarily (but not exclusively) with the Defense Dept.

Lockheed has 125,000 employees in the United States and overseas with 939 facilities in 457 cities and 45 states throughout the U.S.; internationally, with business locations in 56 nations and territories.

Lockheed leads the defense industry in lobbying expenditures. Lockheed Martin made over $10.6 million in campaign contributions to candidates and party committees from 1990 to 2000, including $3.4 million in donations in the run-up to the year 2000 elections.

The company actively lobbies for the need to retain substantial numbers of existing nuclear weapons while developing new ones. Lockheed Martin receives more than $1 billion per year from the Department of Energy - to operate the Sandia National Laboratories (involved in the design and production of nuclear warheads) and help run the Nevada Test Site for "sub-critical testing" of new nuclear weapons designs

-Peter B. Teets, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, is a former president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin who retired from the company in late 1999. Teets now serves as the director of the National Reconnaissance Office and chief procurement officer for all of military space, controlling a budget in excess of $65 billion.

-James G. Roche, Secretary of the Air Force is a former president of Northrop-Grumman, a subsidiary of Lockheed.

-Stephen Hadley, Condi Rice's former deputy and our new national security advisor, was a partner in Shea & Gardner, the Washington law firm representing Lockheed Martin.

- Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, was a General Dynamics contractor and a former president of Lockheed.

-Michael Jackson, Deputy Secretary of Transportation is the former Vice President, Former CEO of Lockheed Information and Management Services and a shareholder.

-Dov Zakheim - Under Secretary for Comptroller of Defense was a paid advisory board member of Northrup-Grumman.

-Nelson F. Gibbs, Air Force; Assistant Secretary for Installations, Environment and Logistics is a former corporate comptroller for Northrop-Grumman.

-I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff and Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs was a Northrup-Grumman consultant.

Boeing had the upper hand in influencing the purchase of Air Force goodies during the first quarter of the Bush I presidency.

Boeing was probably best known in the past for making commercial jet airplanes. These days 40% its annual revenue is generated from the sale of military aircraft, missiles, lasers, guidance systems, and the like.

The Associated Press reported before the current invasion of Iraq that the U.S. military had stockpiled 17,000 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs. Air Force Secretary James Roche announced that they were "sufficient for a war against Iraq" courtesy of an accelerated production by Boeing. Boeing makes the JDAM, which is a tail cone attached to standard 1,000-and 2,000-pound bombs allowing them to be guided to a target as they fall, using GPS satellite signals.

After the Air Force dropped more than 6,000 of the JDAMs over Afghanistan, it realized it would need more to drop on Iraq and asked Boeing to accelerate production.

-Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to the President is a Boeing shareholder.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Democratic nations don't pursue WMD's or so we are told by those who

lie through their teeth.




http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/06/10_wmd.html
WMD: Before and After
June 10, 2003
By Jim Caddell, The Unrepentant Liberal

If you followed the news reports before and after the conquest of Iraq, you may have noticed a distinct difference in tone. The administration began to play down weapons of mass destruction and began emphasizing the "liberation" of Iraq. However, after talking about WMD until the whole country was sick of hearing about them, questions were bound to be asked. The contrast between the administration's stance before and after Baghdad's fall is striking:

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2. yeah, these bombs are designed to kill masses of people at a time

In Iraq these weapons have 'liberated' tens of thousands of innocent civilians of their lives and countless more of their livlihoods.

[MisterP]

3. I aim for the stars

but sometimes I hit London (or Tehran in this case)