Civilians Weapons Inspection and Bike Ride

by mark c - bleic Sat Jun 19, 2004 21:57 bleic at bonbon dot net

In Belfast, Thales Air Defence, formerly Shorts Missiles Systems has a well established missile production facility. It has received tens of thousands of pounds in subsidies over the years from the public purse. A recent Invest NI document listed its manufacture programs as including the Seacat, Blowpipe, Javelin, Starstreak and Hellfire missiles.

The Starstreak missile has been exported to South Africa despite the massive development need in that country. The UK Department for International Development can refuse a licence on the basis of the impact of a given deal on development, but cannot consider the cumulative impact of many deals. Its role in the licensing process is rendered almost meaningless by this restriction.

The Hellfire missile is manufactured by Thales in Belfast under licence from the US giant Lockheed Martin. Thales have considerable expertise in this manufacture having produced this missile since the late nineties.
In their recent report 'Lock, Stock and Barrel' Amnesty, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms highlighted how 'new, relaxed licensing for arms components, rather than for whole systems is creating a new loophole within the British arms control system. This is increasing the likelihood that UK-supplied defence equipment will be misused and that exports will be able to evade tough licensing criteria'.

Today the Belfast and Lisburn Ethical Investment Campaign sought to bring public attention to the fact that the Hellfire missile is tested at the Thales site near Ballynahinch, County Down. The site was picnic-picketted with local residents speaking out on the need for transparency on the activities of the arms manufacturer. The Hellfire missile is regularly used by the Israeli Defence Forces in so-called 'targeted killings'. Within the last few months British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Straw issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the "unlawful killing" by Israeli forces. Straw described the targeted assassination as "unacceptable and unjustified".
A concern of the BLEIC group is that components of these missiles being used by the IDF are being manufactured and tested in Belfast and Ballynahinch.