While the BAE investigation apparently ran aground in Britain, it has gained enough interest in the United States to cause some of those in the middle of it to secure high-profile legal advisers. Prince Bandar, a confidant of the Bush family, recently retained the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director Louis J. Freeh, as well as one of the fathers of the F.C.P.A., the retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin, to represent him.
http://www.whereisthemoney.org/hotseat/stanleysporkin.htm UnAnswered Questions for Stanley Sporkin
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2346218 http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2217144,00.html US obtains Swiss records and flies in British witness in BAE investigation
US corruption investigators have gone behind the back of Downing Street to fly a British witness to Washington to testify about Saudi arms deals with the UK arms firm BAE Systems, the Guardian can disclose. In a hitherto secret move, Swiss federal prosecutors have also agreed to hand over to Washington financial records linked to the Saudi royal family.
The US is seeking - but has so far been refused - more than a million pages of documents seized from BAE, its bankers, Lloyds TSB, and the Ministry of Defence during an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the US, who says there was no impropriety about a £1bn payment he received for brokering arms deals with BAE, has hired a former head of the FBI and a retired British high court judge to defend his position. The British government has been attempting to block all investigations into payments from BAE to members of the Saudi regime.
British ministers are refusing to grant a six-month-old official request from the US department of justice for mutual legal assistance, in defiance of the UK's anti-bribery treaty obligations. This follows the suppression of Britain's own Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was abandoned last year on the grounds that the inquiry might jeopardise national security. The move, following Tony Blair's intervention, infuriated anti-corruption campaigners.
Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2192611,00.html Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems
Nils Pratley
Wednesday October 17, 2007
The Guardian
The boardroom dynamics of BAE Systems are hard to read at the best of times, but the natural reading of chief executive Mike Turner's departure seems clear: he was pushed.
The killer quote was provided by Turner in June, when he seemed to pitch publicly for an extension. "I'm a fairly young guy," he said. "I've been through some difficult times a few years ago, but the company is in great shape. Why would I want to stop now?"
Why indeed? He is 59, has worked at the company since his teenage years, and retirement age at BAE is 65. Turner himself says he will now look for a job elsewhere, albeit in a non-executive role. It's not as if shareholders were demanding change. The shares have performed wonderfully in recent years, a fact that usually baffles those who only associate BAE with allegations of bribery.
On the business front, Turner did well. He weathered the rows with the Ministry of Defence over the costs of the Nimrod aircraft and Astute submarine programmes. His single-minded vision for expansion - more American assets - was controversial, but successful. Becoming the world's biggest builder of armoured vehicles, from an American base, has paid off handsomely thanks to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
So why's he going? It looks as if winds of change are blowing through BAE. Chris Geoghegan and Steve Mogford, co-chief operating officers, have already resigned this year, so Turner's exit next August means members of BAE's old guard are becoming harder to spot.
New faces might be deemed desirable at this point: the US department of justice is still investigating allegations that BAE paid bribes to Saudi officials. BAE says its relationship with the US government is unaffected, but it's also its job to ensure that's always the case.
Was chairman Dick Olver behind Turner's departure? Was it a boardroom coup? There is sometimes danger in smelling conspiracy at BAE. On this occasion, the stench is powerful.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1692996 BAE brings in a pair of Army contracts
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/08/27/daily5.html A New Hampshire-based defense contractor reports it has won an $8 million federal research grant to develop a power amplifier for the U.S. Army.
A Merrimack, N.H., BAE Systems Inc. site is scheduled to develop a 160-watt gallium nitride amplifier to power communications and radar systems. The grant was awarded to BAE by the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, based in Fort Monmouth, N.J. BAE is expected to share the grant with Virginia-based materials science company Rohm and Haas Co. and the University of Colorado.
In a separate development, a Massachusetts-based unit of BAE reports it plans to develop night vision goggles for the U.S. Army for an undisclosed contract amount. The Program Executive Office Solider, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., commissioned the work, according to company officials.
BAE Systems Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of United Kingdom-based BAE Systems PLC. BAE Systems Inc. is headquartered in Rockville, Md. BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Inc., a business unit of BAE Systems, is based in Nashua, N.H. BAE Systems PLC employs 88,000 workers worldwide and reported 2006 annual sales of $25 billion. The largest North American BAE operating group is the Electronics & Integrated Solutions group.
BAE already has an order from India for 66 BAE Hawk trainers, 42 of which are being built there.
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:07 PM
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aIVNGXZDbsww&refer=india BAE Systems to Develop Enhanced Night-Vision Goggle For U.S. Army
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070827005480&newsLang=en LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems will design and develop a digitally enhanced night-vision goggle as part of the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants.
The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. This digital technology will provide improved image quality and will enable imagery to be shared among soldiers, improving platoon effectiveness.
“This program will demonstrate the maturity and effectiveness of digital fusion technology and its benefit to the warfighter,” said Margaret Kohin, Advanced Systems program director for BAE Systems in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Applying innovative technology to help our soldiers complete their missions is an objective BAE Systems stands behind every day.”
The contract is managed by the Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
BAE Systems will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR® microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle. This technology also is used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army. BAE Systems has two microbolometer foundries and has delivered more than 50,000 microbolometer-based imagers to date.
About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings Inc. for the whole of 2006.
1692661, $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles
http://www.thestreet.com/s/merger-bolsters-bae/newsanalysis/general/10375090.html?puc=googlefi OKLAHOMA CITY -- With its huge buyout of Armor Holdings, U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (BAESY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) may have very well gotten more than its money's worth.
Notably, just weeks before that transaction closed, Armor landed a surprise $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles. With similar MRAP business of its own, BAE has suddenly burst forward as a new leader in the multibillion-dollar MRAP game.
This story is the fourth installment in TheStreet.com's five-part series examining the top players in the multibillion-dollar MRAP bidding.
"In 2007 to date, BAE plus AH have captured ... No. 1 market share -- ahead of Force Protection (FRPT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and International Military and Government," a unit of Navistar (NAVZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), noted JPMorgan analyst Harry Breach, whose firm has investment banking ties to BAE. Moreover, "we believe that further MRAP awards are likely later this year."
BAE demos DSL-esque military radio protocol
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:13 PM
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/bae_dsl_via_link_16 /
According to BAE, "the demonstration included Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, Voice over IP, mobile ad-hoc networking, streaming video, and imagery."
The share price of BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, has risen 225 per cent.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article2337229.ece Symon Hill, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “We think that most of the British public will object to the idea that these companies are profiting from war. While Iraqi civilians and British soldiers are dying, there are companies profiting from it.”
Accusations of making money from war are seen as unfair by the businessmen who run Britain’s defence industry. While the industry in the United States is loaded with former generals and admirals, British executives tend to be engineers or entrepreneurs. They are not career soldiers and get frustrated when they are presented as warmongers.
Revealed: official passes that give BAE access to the top at the MoD
http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2149644,00.html Incestuous' relationship must end, says MP
Lobbyist among 38 given free access to ministry
Rob Evans and David Leigh
Thursday August 16, 2007
The Guardian
The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed.
The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government. The MoD is refusing to disclose the names of the BAE employees with the official passes, or why they were given them, saying the information would breach their privacy and security. However, it is known that one has been held by BAE's chief lobbyist, Julian Scopes. The pass gave him access to the top levels of the ministry, enabling him to lobby ministers and senior officials and promote BAE's commercial interests.
BAE - $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems,
http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/media-type/html/user/anon/page/default.psml/js_panename/News+Information+Article+View ;jsessionid=1DC948DE7A201E05F88DA8A5F1D73E43.tomcat2?articleid=81859&showfull=false
BAE Systems Receives Navy Basic Ordering Agreement for Weapons and Support Services
(2007-08-24)
By: Copyright Business Wire 2007 , Business Wire
BAE Systems has received a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) from the U.S. Navy for up to $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems, and provide support services over the next five years. Potential orders received under this BOA are expected later this year and will be carried out by BAE Systems' facilities in Minneapolis and Louisville.
"This agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to serve the U.S. Navy and provide our sailors with critical naval weapon systems and support services," said Dennis Morris, BAE Systems' president of Armament Systems.
The BOA covers a wide range of BAE Systems' programs including the transition of production of the Mk 110 57mm naval gun system; the overhaul, manufacture and upgrade of the Mk 45 5-inch naval gun for the Cruiser Modernization program, the Mk 75 76mm gun mount, the Mk 42 extended range guided missile handling mechanism, the Mk 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes (SVTT), and the Mk 36/53 decoy launcher systems (DLS); the manufacture of gun barrels; the overhaul of turbine pump ejection systems (TPES); and work associated with minor caliber guns.
"This BOA demonstrates to us that our employees have been successful in meeting the customer's needs -- and that's our priority - delivering solutions on time and on budget," said Morris.
BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier ELECTRONIC WARFARE
http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/NEWS_2007/AUG_07/BAE_230807.htm BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier
UK-based aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems says that its Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS) business in Merrimack, NH, USA has been awarded an $8m contract from the US Army Communications-Electronics Command to develop a 160 Watt gallium nitride power amplifier for communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Partnering BAE Systems on the program are materials supplier Rohm and Haas of Blacksburg, VI, USA and the University of Colorado.
The solid-state technology will replace the older traveling-wave vacuum tubes that are currently used to produce high-power radio frequency signals, and are intended to aid warfighters by more effectively disrupting enemy communications and radar signals, while protecting friendly communications.
“DARPA has identified BAE Systems’ GaN technology as an important material for future military applications in electronic warfare, radar, and air-to-ground, air-to-satellite, and ground-to-ground communications systems,” says Dr John Evans, the manager for DARPA’s Disruptive Manufacturing Technology program (through which it solicits proposals to reduce cost and time for production of military components). BAE Systems was chosen from among 40 bidders.
“Using this technology, we can develop systems that are significantly less expensive, more reliable, and lower in weight,” says Tony Immorlica, program manager of microwave device programs at BAE Systems. The first prototypes could be deployed by the end of the decade
Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program
http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20070822005666/bae-systems-congressional-community-and-army-leaders-celebrate-inauguration-of-elgi.html BAE Systems, Congressional, Community and Army Leaders Celebrate Inauguration of Elgin Site
ELGIN, Okla.-(Business Wire)-August 22, 2007 - BAE Systems held a special inaugural ceremony in Elgin, Oklahoma to initiate work on BAE Systems - Elgin Operations, a 150,000 square-foot facility. The BAE Systems - Elgin Operations facility will be built by the city of Elgin in the Ft. Sill Industrial Park, and is scheduled to open in early 2009. Work at the new facility will initially focus on production integration and assembly of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.
Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iuFyWX3Rz8 Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jIPMQSpiiE Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dclFejuvrwg An exclusive interview with one of Britain's leading investigative journalists and a former insider, the Trail of the Dove reveals the extent of surcharges, commissions and the $100 millon secret fund used by the UK's leading arms firm, BAE Systems, to grease the wheels of the biggest arms deals in British history.
Al-Yamamah 'The Dove' is the name of a series of massive arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia. It is Britain's largest ever export agreement, and the prime contractor has been BAE Systems and its predecessor British Aerospace, which earned £43 billion in 20 years.
Both the UK's National Audit Office (report never released) and The Serious Fraud Office (halted) conducted investigations into corruption allegations. Trail of the Dove has also had access to ministry of defence secret documents and ambassadorial official correspondence that shows the level of corruption in the British arms trade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWwdJpJkyKg Former Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan received hundreds of millions of pounds in secret payments from Britain's top defence manufacturer with the knowledge of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, according to the BBC.
The payments made by BAE Systems were actually a conduit to Bandar for his role in the multi-billion al-Yamamah arms agreement, Britain's biggest ever export deal signed in 1985, the state-funded broadcaster said it had learned Thursday.
The alleged bribes were said to have been discovered during a year-long inquiry conducted by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), but which was abruptly halted last December after Blair said the investigation was a threat to national security.
The dropping of the investigation also came amid concerns that it might jeopardize a new multi-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia to supply Eurofighters.
The BBC said that the payments, believed to total more than Pnds one billion (Dlrs 1.9 bn), were sent to two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington, were written into the government-to-government arms deal contract in secret annexes.
Allegations previously made in the British press have also suggested that Mark Thatcher, son of the British prime minister at the time, was also involved in the deal.
The al-Yamamah deal included the supply of more than 100 Tornado aircraft and is estimated to have been worth over Pnds 40 billion (Dlrs 78 bn) over more than a decade.
The new claims, to be made in the BBC's current affairs Panorama programme next Monday prompted the head of parliament's committee which investigates strategic exports, Labour MP Roger Berry, to call for a proper investigation into the allegations.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said that if ministers in either the present or previous governments were involved there should be a "major parliamentary inquiry".
"It is one thing for a company to have engaged in alleged corruption overseas. It is another thing if British government ministers have approved it," Cable said. (more) (less)
New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tibaAAS5Zk New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMnIBMm9HBQ New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEwJ72VCrzI NOW WE KNOW WHY:- Tony Blair has defended the government's decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) investigation into alleged bribery surrounding BAE Systems' contracts with Saudi Arabia.
The prime minister told the House of Commons continuing the investigation would have damaged the UK's relationship with Saudi Arabia.
However, he refuted allegations the attorney general Lord Goldsmith had attempted to block a subsequent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) investigation as "completely and totally unfair and wrong".
It had been alleged Lord Goldsmith had warned officials not to disclose information to the OECD investigation.
Quizzed in prime minister's questions, Mr Blair defended the decision not to pursue an inquiry.
He said: "First of all these allegations are strenuously denied by the Saudi royal family, secondly if we were then going to conduct an investigation then that might last two, three years into these allegations that frankly I think would lead absolutely nowhere.
"What it would lead to is the complete wreckage of a relationship that is of fundamental importance of the security of this country, to the state of the Middle East, and to our relationship with countries in the Middle East."
Mr Blair continued: "I was asked for my advice as to what damage this investigation would do if it continued. I gave that advice because of the huge importance of working with Saudi Arabia on the Middle East peace process, on counter-terrorism, on the situation in the Middle East.
BAE Systems Receives $12.5 Million Contract to Provide Emergency Escape Windows To U.S. Army
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070829005442&newsLang=en MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems announced today it received a $12.5 million contract to provide 1000 Vehicle Emergency Escape (VEE) Window kits plus 2,000 spare VEE Window panels to the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) for use on the up-armored M1114 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).
“It’s important that our soldiers have the best equipment available to keep them safe on the battlefield,” said Dennis Morris, president, BAE Systems, Armament Systems. “The VEE Window is a cost-effective, life-saving tool for enhancing the safety of crews riding in up-armored vehicles in dangerous combat zones where rollovers and accidents are a significant threat.”
The VEE Window is a simple technology developed by BAE Systems that allows crews of the HMMWVs to remove the ballistic windshields in less than five seconds and quickly exit the vehicle during an emergency, such as a rollover or accident. The VEE Window meets current M1114 ballistic properties and will be installed by unit maintenance personnel in theater.
The VEE Window was approved for the M1114 HMMWV following a series of performance and safety tests conducted this summer by the Army at its Aberdeen Test Center. The tests evaluated the effectiveness of the device, as well as the window’s overall structural integrity and operational effectiveness in a rollover or accident-like scenario. The VEE Window kits will be delivered to Army personnel in November.
BAE Systems is exploring VEE Window applications for other tactical and armored vehicles, including M1151/1152 HMMWVs, the Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, and the U.S. Marine Corps’ Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle programs.
BAE brings in a pair of Army contracts
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/08/27/daily5.html 
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