Week 37 in #wapenhandel25tweets

(Gaarne 'liken' of delen als je het nuttig of interessant vindt.

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Netherlands / Nederland (see also 19, 20, 23)

A – 110918: Dutch government has supported an armed group in Syria with non-lethal equipment, who by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service has been classified as a terrorist organisation. According to research by Dutch daily Trouw and TV-program Nieuwsuur. [in Dutch] https://nos.nl/uitzending/36064-nieuwsuur.html

1 – 100918: Naval Group want to forms partnerships in Egypt to export maintenance and overhaul for the Egyptian navy warships. [in French] https://www.pressreader.com/france/les-echos/20180910/282226601615360

2 – 120918: Are German ships del;ivered to the KSA used in the blockade against Yemen?

Sind aus Deutschland gelieferte Kriegsschiffe indirekt an Blockade des Jemen beteiligt? https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/sind-aus-deutschland-gelieferte-kriegsschiffe-indirekt-an-blockade-des-jemen-beteiligt--8352752.htmlvia @sternde

3 – 130918: German small arms exports #SLAW with details on numbers, type, value and countries of destination. http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/041/1904193.pdf

4 – 100918: Globally applauded decision by Spain to stop bombs going to KSA wasn't final Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told senators at a hearing on Monday. She expects talks with the Saudi's would settle the dispute. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/10/spain-holds-talks-with-saudi-arabia-over-weapons-deals/

5 – 130918: Spain will go ahead with the sale of 400 laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, a contract it had decided to halt last week because of the Saudis' role in the war in Yemen, El Periodico newspaper said on Wednesday citing diplomatic sources. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-spain-saudi-arms/spain-to-go-ahead-with-sale-of-bombs-to-saudi-el-periodico

6 – 150918: Swiss arms companies make profits, but nethertheless want relaxing of arms export regulations. [in French] Aux armes de la paix, citoyens suisses https://www.24heures.ch/signatures/editorial/armes-paix-citoyens-suisses/story/14196435

7 – 100918: Defense contractor indicted for fraud, might be hiding in Turkey. (https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/09/07/defense-contractor-indicted-for-fraud-might-be-hiding-in-turkey/) See also earlier tweet: 6 September 2018: https://twitter.com/martinbroek/status/1037802735448608776

8 – 100918: Turkey’s homegrown helo makes maiden flight. Turkey says it designed the T625 locally, though industry sources note that the platform has strong resemblance to the AW139, made by the Italian-British AgustaWestland. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/10/turkeys-homegrown-helo-makes-maiden-flight/

9 – 130918: Turkey has stepped up arms supplies to Syrian rebels to help them stave off an expected offensive by the Syrian army and its Russian and Iran-backed allies in the northwest near the Turkish frontier, rebel sources told Reuters. https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2018/09/13/Turkey-boosts-arms-to-Syrian-rebels-as-Idlib-attack-looms.htmlvia @AlArabiya_Eng

10 – 160918: The components which are produced by Turkish companies for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program and Turkish participation as a reliable program partner.

11 – 120918: For the first time, a majority of UK Conservative (52%) voters oppose arms sales to the Saudi led coalition on Yemen, the poll taken on 29-30 August showed. This marks an increase from 25 per cent who said they were opposed in June. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-civil-war-uk-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-bombing-emergency-debate-stephen-twigg-a8532191.html

12 – 130918: Arming the Middle East (Kuwait in this case) with Eurofighters. Budget for current fiscal yr includes $1.1 bln to buy Eurofighter aircrafts http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/budget-for-current-fiscal-yr-includes-1-1-bln-to-buy-eurofighter-aircrafts/

REST of the world

13 – 150918: Report critical of Australian procurement process. THE auditor general has claimed the federal government spent $222m on new Bushmaster vehicles in 2016 solely to keep the Thales Bendigo facility operating. The deal was not value for money for taxpayers. https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/5647250/report-critical-of-bushmaster-hawkei-procurement-process/

14 – 100918: Gross violator of human rights, Egypt, to get US$1.2 billion in military aid. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/09/09/us-to-release-12-billion-in-military-aid-to-egypt/

15 – 110918: Egypt launches first locally built Gowind corvette fitted with 16 VL-MICA surface-to-air missiles and 8 Exocet MM40 surface-to-surface missiles as well as 1 76 mm, two 20 mm guns and with a Thales (Nederland) -supplied sensor suite. https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=33425&SEO=egypt-launches-first-locally-built-gowind-corvette

16 – 160918: UK Defence Secretary and his Qatari counterpart ­unveiled the £5bn contract for 24 Typhoons, together with a package of support and training, in December. However, the final terms are yet to be confirmed and the sale has already been pushed back once. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/09/16/time-running-bae-typhoon-sale-qatar/

17 – 140918: Spain backed away, but still interresting. @PWezeman "seeking a military solution to the situation in #Yemen seems hopeless,"restricting arms sales is a viable way to apply pressure and expedite a diplomatic framework that may ultimately end the conflict. http://www.yerepouni-news.com/archives/432411

18 – 160918: How Congress Can End the War in Yemen. From 2013 to 2017 Washington supplied more than 60% of Saudi arms. Congress has not directly used its power to force the president to remove US armed forces from participation in a war. Until now. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/09/14/how-congress-can-end-the-war-in-yemen/via @nybooks

DEFENCE-INDUSTRY

19 – 130918: Fokker wil tijdens OBD jongeren enthousiast maken voor werken in de wapenindustrie - Hoogeveen - ... https://www.hoogeveenschecourant.nl/nieuws/hoogeveen/514733/fokker-wil-tijdens-obd-jongeren-enthousiast-maken-voor-werken-in-vliegtuigtuigindustrie.html

20 – 130918: Fokker alive and kicking components for Apaches and F-16, both used at the Yemen battlefield. http://broekstukken.blogspot.com/2018/09/fokker-alive-and-kicking-components-for.html

21 – 130918: A plea to privitize the party State owned French arms industry, like Safran, Nexter, Naval Group, Thales, Dassault Aviation, Airbus and MBDA [in French]

L'industrie de l'armement sclérosée par l'Etat actionnaire https://www.lesechos.fr/idees-debats/cercle/0302246600818-lindustrie-de-larmement-sclerosee-par-letat-actionnaire-2205162.php

WEAPENS

22 – 150918: Again most expensive weapon system ever gets bad press. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2018/09/14/software-upgrades-lead-delay-f-35-operational-testing/

23 – 160918: Dutch SP asks questions on the consequences (also for the Netherlands) of canceling Turkish participation in F-35 project. https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/kamervragen/detail?id=2018Z15761&did=2018D43572

24 – 100918: Leaders at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency #DARPA announced Sept. 7 a $2 billion initiative, known as AI Next, that aims to substantially improve artificial intelligence research. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/09/10/darpas-new-2-billion-initiative-for-next-level-ai/

25 – 140918: “A prohibition treaty is urgently needed before massive international investment goes into LAWs,” says Noel Sharkey professor AI & robotics. With DARPA announcing a new $2 billion investment in "next wave" military AI, time is running out. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a23133118/us-ai-robots-warfare/

OTHER

26 – 100918: We've just heard that Roxel missile is not accepting any deliveries today due to our vigil. #protestingworks #stoparmingsaudi

27 – 130918: The US Export Control Reform Act and Possible New Controls on Emerging and Foundational Technologies, part I-III https://www.akingump.com/en/news-insights/the-export-control-reform-act-of-2018-and-possible-new-controls.html

This is a selection from a larger amount of tweets. Tweets with a relation the Netherlands, arms trade and defence-industry weight heavier in the selection. If you want to have them daily see http://twitter.com/martinbroek