BAE coughs another $79m over US war-tech violations US-centred but UK-controlled weapons globocorp BAE Systems plc has reached a civil settlement with the US State Department regarding violations of American arms-technology export laws. Under the deal announced today the firm will pay a fine of $79m, up to $10m of which may be spent internally on enhanced compliance measures. …
It might be interesting if the US authorities investigated the activities of US companies with as much zeal. It might be difficult to trace cash but it would probably be easier to check where relatives of decision makers in some Middle Eastern countries have been sponsored as students in the USA by well known US companies, as preconditions to contracts being awarded or continued. Perhaps the US authorities are already aware, given the same companies get around import controls by having deliveries for assorted clients made by US military transports to US bases in the same Middle eastern countries.
You seem to have missed the point: BAE *is* a US company. The fact that the UK government gives them what are, in effect, massive gifts in order to continue to employ a certain number of workers there does not really alter the fact. As bad as it might be for the UK economy and its armed forces, it is a very good business strategy for BAE.
How do they expect us to take them seriously when I know the following items have been declared ITAR (i.e. stated to be a 'munition' on the United States Munitions List (USML).
An RS232 cable
A diesel truck engine
A radio battery charger
An antenna
An RF cable.
On the last item, my company applied for ITAR clearence so that we could get a Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) in place with the manufacturer, so we could be told what spec the cable was built to. A year later we got the ITAR clearance, accompanied by a bill by the manufacturer for $50,000 as a standard cost of providing a TAA . They seemed surprised when we told them we had substituted another (non-ITAR) cable and told them to take a running jump.
Also ITAR items:
- FPGA
- Static RAM
- Serial bus transcever
- N-Channel Mosfet that survives in space environment
- Communications satellite (regardless of what it is made out of)
And if your in-company EMC facility moves to another address, you have to change your ITAR paperwork, because you are "supplying" your "munitions" to a different address, even though it is the same people and is only for 2 weeks.
The rest of the "A year later" is typically composed of the companies involved twiddling their thumbs and taking their sweet old time to type-up a few pages of text, the boiler plate of which is available for cut-and-paste from State.
If it takes more than 3 months, you're doing it wrong.
Seems to be we bend over they.....
Love the Americans really I do. Perhaps the next bunch of idiots in the UK government that want to give the US money to run our census, write our tax software, control our defence, supply our planes (fighters, spy planes, bombers, civil aircraft) might want to stop and think just how much they are s*******g us over everytime.
Don't forget who demanded cash for war supplies, then settled for land, companies and every other asset we possesed in order to let us defeat Germany.
Or those who allowed the middle east to turn to turmoil by undermining us at Suez,
or when the special relationship means we have to trundle to war to defend their oil supplies while they pressure us to let Argentina have the Falklands.
Fine friends they are too.
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