Lockheed Martin Canada Ltd

Lockheed Martin Canada Ltd. ockheed Martin (LM) Canada is AEGIS Combat System acronym stands for “Advanced Elec- a subsidiary of Lockheed Mar- For its part, LM Canada is contributing tronic Guidance and Instrumentation Ltin, the world’s biggest war in- to its parent company’s endeavours System.” However, no matter how cute dustry. LM is also one of the top pro- through the production of an interac- the nomenclature, weapons are still the ducers of the weapons systems that are tive training and simulation system destructive tools of war. And, no mat- being developed under the so-called called VISTA. This computer-based ter how clever the appropriation of an- “missile defense” program. product prepares military personnel to cient Greek mythological symbols, AE- Lockheed Martin’s contribution use the AEGIS Combat System. AEGIS GIS is, in fact, just a weapons system to the “missile defense” weapons de- is the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s “mis- velopment program includes oversee- sile defense” weapons program. Martin ing a wide variety of major weapons Military products are sometimes Munro systems including the following: named after characters or objects from • land-based weapons known as Ter- myths. The term “AEGIS” provides an minal High Altitude Area Defense, illustration of this practice. The ancient • a sea-based missile system referred Greek poet, Homer, described a magical to as the AEGIS Combat System, shield called aegis that was possessed • space-based Beam Control System by Zeus and Athena. (See “Aegis was for laser weapons, the Deadly Shield of the Rapacious God, • the Flight Turret Assembly for la- Zeus,”pp. 24-25.) However, the term ser weapons to be used aboard AEGIS has now been expropriated by converted 747-400F aircraft.1 the U.S. military and refers to a weapons system that masquerades as a de- fensive shield. The AEGIS missile sys- General Manager, tem shelters under the protective term Lockheed Martin Canada “missile defense.” Nowadays, it is used unro’s career began in the Ship- not by Zeus, the god of all gods, but 3001 Solandt Road Building Branch of the Depart- by the military of all militaries. M Kanata ON K2K 2M8 ment of Supply and Services in 1983, It is also often the case that the Tel.: 613-599-3270 when Canada’s largest-ever military military, and their corporate allies, give Fax: 613-599-3282 contract—the patrol frigate project— fancy acronyms to their extremely Email: [email protected] was first awarded. Munro left in 1989 deadly, high-tech, weapons systems. Website: www.lmco.com to join Martin Marietta Canada, a AEGIS is a classic case in point. This Lockheed Martin Canada company.1 Lockheed Martin Canada Awarded Lockheed Martin Canada is the “prime systems integrator of the Ca- $43-Million Contract for Canada’s next Census nadian patrol-frigate program, which By Steve Lambert Lockheed Martin has worked to includes the design, development develop the space-based missile-de- and integration of the combat sys- he federal government has finalized fence system—dubbed Star Wars. tem, the integrated machinery con- a $43.3-million deal that will see the T Critics fear some census infor- trol system, [and] the land-based test 2006 census conducted with the help mation could make its way into the facility for all 12 ships.”2 of the Canadian subsidiary of a U.S. hands of the U.S. government. Munro uses his government weapons manufacturer. They point to the U.S. Patriot experience to help land lucrative, war- Some peace groups and oppo- Act, which was enacted following the related contracts. He also speaks at sition politicians are concerned about terrorist attacks of 2001. It allows the events, like the “Federal Government taxpayer dollars’ going to a weapons- FBI and other U.S. authorities access Procurement Conference of the Ameri- builder. “There’s a moral issue, I believe, to information held by private U.S. com- cas” (November 2004), organized by Ca- in having an arms manufacturing panies. There are concerns that power nadian and U.S. government agencies.3 industry...do our census data collection might extend to companies in Canada among citizens [whose] relatives... References with headquarters in the U.S. abroad...could be hurt [by Lockheed 1. Executive Profile Statistics Canada says such se- Martin weapons],” said New Democrat <www.lockheedmartin.com> curity concerns are not valid. MP Brian Masse, of Windsor, Ontario. 2. 2005 Source Book, Signal. “We’re concerned about Source: “Census deal with U.S. firm <afceaportal.org/sourcebook/ Lockheed Martin’s advocacy of the Star goes through,” Canadian Press, Oct. 9, details.jsp?cid=10001196> Wars program of missile defence,” said 2004. <www.theglobeandmail.com/ 3. Federal Government Procurement Darrell Rankin, an organizer with the No servlet/story/RTGAM.20041009. Conference of the Americas War Coalition in Manitoba. wcens1009/BNStory/National> <www.ccc.ca/fgpca2004.htm> 22 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 57) October 2005 aboard a variety of U.S. warships. ships currently planned.”2 short- and medium-range ballistic According to the U.S. Missile And, according to the website missiles in their midcourse phase. Defense Agency, which oversees the MissileThreat.com, a project of the The system will integrate the most comprehensive weapons devel- right-wing Claremont Institute “devoted U.S. Navy’s existing fleet of Aegis opment program in world history, to understanding and promoting the cruisers (Ticonderoga class) and “The Aegis Weapon System, the ba- requirements for the strategic defense Aegis destroyers (Arleigh Burke sis for the sea-based element of the of the United States,” the AEGIS Bal- class) with the Standard Missile-3 Ballistic Missile Defense System, is listic Missile Defense system (SM-3) interceptor currently under currently deployed on 68 U.S. Navy “will provide an efficient and highly development. The system will allow cruisers and destroyers, with 18 more mobile sea-based defense against the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Robert J. U.S. war industry giant, Lockheed Stevens Martin, is responsible for the AEGIS Combat System. AEGIS is the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s “missile defense” weapons program. Lockheed Martin Canada is supplying the U.S. with the AEGIS interactive training and simulation system called VISTA. Pres. and CEO, Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin: Fox in the Hen House By Tim Weiner ockheed Martin doesn’t run the LUnited States. But it does help run a breath-takingly big part of it. Over the last decade, Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest military con- VISTA tractor, has built a formidable information-technology empire that now was paid for and developed by stretches from the Pentagon to the post Canadian taxpayers. It is now the office. It sorts the mail and totals the system of choice for preparing taxes. It cuts Social Security checks and U.S. Navy personnel to use counts the U.S. census. It runs space their AEGIS weapons systems. flights and monitors air traffic. To make all that happen, Lockheed Martin writes military-industrial complex. It is increas- raise some questions. more computer code than Microsoft. ingly putting its stamp on the nation’s Former Lockheed executives, Of course, Lockheed Martin is military policies, too. lobbyists and lawyers hold crucial best known for its weapons, which are Lockheed stands at “the inter- White House and Pentagon posts, pick- the heart of America’s arsenal. It builds section of policy and technology,” and ing weapons and setting policies. most of the nation’s warplanes. It cre- that “is really a very interesting place,” “It’s impossible to tell where the ates rockets for nuclear missiles, sen- said its CEO, Robert J. Stevens, a government ends and Lockheed be- sors for spy satellites and scores of tightly-wound former Marine.[Editor’s gins,” said Danielle Brian of Project on other military and intelligence systems. note: He’s also a Director of Monsanto.] Government Oversight, a nonprofit The Pentagon and the Central Intelli- “We are deployed entirely in develop- group in Washington DC that monitors gence Agency might have difficulty ing daunting technology,” he said, and government contracts. “The fox isn’t functioning without its expertise. that requires “thinking through the guarding the henhouse. He lives there.” But in the post-9/11 world, policy dimensions of national security Source: “Lockheed and the Future of Lockheed Martin has become more as well as technological dimensions.” Warfare,” New York Times, November than just the biggest corporate cog in To critics, however, Lockheed 28, 2004. what Dwight D. Eisenhower called the Martin’s deep ties with the Pentagon October 2005 (Issue # 57) Press for Conversion! 23 to move its defense capabilities close The NSWCDD’s “Visitor Infor- tor of the Joint Staff’s Joint Theater Air to enemy launch sites, thus provid- mation” webpage proudly notes that is and Missile Defense Organization, in ing a critical ‘layer’ to the broader now “at the forefront of naval science Washington, D.C. (And, he also com- Ballistic Missile Defense System.”3 and engineering” when it comes to a mands another center for weapons test- long list of weapons programs, including and training, the Center for Surface VISTA: ing “theater ballistic missile defense.”5 Combat Systems.8) The AEGIS Training System When the NSWCDD procured The NSWCDD/ATRC gave LM Of course, LM Canada’s VISTA is also VISTA from LM Canada, it did so “on Canada the AEGIS weapons-training an acronym. It stands for “Visual Inter- behalf of the AEGIS Training and Readi- contract on a “non-competitive,” “sole active Simulated Training Application.” ness Center” (ATRC) in Dahlgren, Vir- source basis.” This means no other Since 1998, LM Canada has been the ginia.6 Like the centre of a bull’s eye corporations—American, Canadian or sole-source supplier of the VISTA for target, the ATRC is a “center” for weap- otherwise—could bid for the contract.

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