Tag: defense contractors

How Lockheed Martin, Raytheon & BAE Systems are propagandizing children to support war through STEM

Raytheon sponsors the Girl Scouts of America. BAE Systems is reading your toddlers their favorite fairytale stories. And Lockheed Martin funds children’s math and STEM festivals. This is done with great fanfare, supposedly to empower and inspire children to pursue their passion for science. In reality, though, these companies are attempting to launder their images and enlist the next generation to become cogs in the military-industrial complex.

All the while, these organizations’ products are being used across the world by the United States and Israel to commit war crimes – in Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and beyond – to target children.

MintPress explores the murky world of the arms companies training kids to bomb kids.

Normalizing War to Kids

When many Americans think of Raytheon (now officially rebranded as RTX Corporation), they don’t envisage rockets and cruise missiles; they think of math. For decades, the second-largest arms manufacturer on the planet has bankrolled a wide range of organizations aimed at getting children excited about STEM subjects.

Since 2009, Raytheon has been the title sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a non-profit organization that provides engaging math programs for middle school students in every U.S. state, as well as organizing math competitions to find the brightest children in America.

In 2005, Raytheon launched its MathMovesU program, aimed, in its own words, “to inspire middle school students to get excited about math and science.” In addition to the materials provided, it has also spent millions on scholarships, grants, and study awards to thousands of students, teachers, and volunteers.

And its MathAlive! traveling exhibit promises, in rather outdated branding, to take math “2theXtreme”. MathAlive! Has also traveled to several countries in West Asia, including Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – all of them among the biggest purchasers of Raytheon weapons technology.

The company also enjoys a longtime partnership with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA). In 2017, for example, it launched the GSUSA’s first national computer science program and cyber challenge for middle and high school girls.

“The progress to diversify the STEM workforce needs to be accelerated… At a time when technology is transforming the way we live and work, we can – and should – show young women a clear path to taking an active role in this transformation,” said Thomas A. Kennedy, then-Raytheon CEO; “Working together, Raytheon and Girl Scouts will help girls build confidence to see themselves as the robotics engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals who will create a better tomorrow.”

Raytheon also spearheaded the GSUSA’s “Think Like a Programmer” project, which encourages girls to explore the world of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and developed many of the programming badges available to the scouts.

GSUSA appears proud of this relationship. Its website profiles one former scout who now works at Raytheon as a success story and a model to follow. The article includes a step-by-step guide and a list of tips for those wishing to follow in her footsteps.

Unsurprisingly, Raytheon also works closely with the U.S. military on these matters, establishing four new STEM “centers of innovation” with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., all near military bases.

While some might be surprised by the closeness of the relationship between a children’s organization and an arms manufacturer, it is worth remembering that the scouting movement was originally established by Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, as a stepping stone towards boys joining the military. Baden-Powell was deeply concerned that English boys would not be physically fit enough to fight for their country in any upcoming wars, and designed an organization that would train them both physically and mentally to do so.

Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade was unimpressed by Raytheon’s attempts to improve their image and to train the next generation of weapons manufacturers. “Our view is that arms companies have no place in schools or colleges, and should certainly not be working with children’s educational charities,” she told MintPress, adding:

“Schools and other places of education should be places where children learn, grow and develop their full potential. They should not be a recruiting ground where arms companies whitewash their activities.”

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Defense firms soar on ample military spending, testing manufacturing schemes

The year 2025 was another record setter for global defense companies, so much so that production bottlenecks in Western nations — not the usual industry lamentations about lacking government spending — began creeping up as the key problem many NATO countries are facing today.

Companies in the United States and Europe rode a wave of significant defense-spending increases on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, individual national budget increases, as well as the European Union’s increasing involvement in brokering and financing joint procurement, continued to increase the revenue of defense industry players large and small.

In the United States, the 2025 Reconciliation Act is set to pump most of the legislation’s total $156 billion into acquisition — on top of the regular defense budget of roughly $900 billion for that year.

“Now, it’ll take years for that enacted money to actually flow to the companies and to their financial statements,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser in the defense analysis program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But it will be a big boost for many companies.”

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US Universities Had Extensive Ties With Chinese Defense Research Labs, Air Force Study Finds

Thirty U.S. academic institutions have until Aug. 31 to examine specified foreign research ties or risk losing eligibility for future federal research funding.

Seven days after the Pentagon ordered the reviews, an Air Force-affiliated institute published a study cataloging 204 interactions involving U.S. institutions and laboratories at the center of China’s defense research system.

The Aug. 24 study by the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) found more U.S. institution-level interactions with China’s Defense Science and Technology Key Laboratories than those involving institutions from any other country.

CASI describes the Defense Science and Technology Key Laboratories as China’s highest level national laboratory network for military research. The contacts it identified ranged from academic visits and conferences to coauthored technical research and formal joint laboratories in fields including aero-engines, underwater sensing, hyperspectral target detection, advanced communications, and aerospace materials.

CASI described interactions between Western researchers and Chinese military laboratories as “at the very least problematic,” saying even seemingly benign exchanges could give Chinese defense researchers access to knowledge and technology useful to the People’s Liberation Army.

CASI Director Brendan Mulvaney told The Epoch Times that institutional collaborations-including joint laboratories, long-term partnerships, and mutual study or training agreements-were the most concerning because they represented sustained cooperation rather than one-off encounters.

The Pentagon’s Aug. 17 order directs 30 U.S. institutions to review academic, financial, and research relationships with foreign entities of concern and report what action they have taken by Aug. 31.

The Pentagon did not publicly identify the schools. According to a list DefenseScoop obtained from a U.S. official, Harvard University, MIT, the University of California-Berkeley, Duke University, Penn State, the University of Texas at Austin, New York University, and the University of Southern California are among institutions on that list that also appear in CASI’s records.

The Pentagon has not said that the relationships identified by CASI prompted the Aug. 17 notices.

Purdue and Beihang Built Joint Research Labs

In 2011, Purdue and Beihang formally established the BUAA-Purdue Joint Laboratory on Energy Systems and the BUAA-Purdue Joint Laboratory on Low Emissions Combustion.

Then-Purdue President France Córdova and Beihang President Huai Jinpeng signed the agreements.

The energy laboratory paired Purdue’s computational modeling with Beihang’s experimental capabilities. The combustion laboratory focused on low emission gas turbine combustors used in aircraft and power generation.

Beihang records also describe the two laboratories as formal joint research arrangements and say the universities discussed broader scientific research, teaching, and faculty and student exchanges.

Beihang later described the combustion laboratory within a research program that also undertook Chinese National Defense 973 projects, a state-backed basic research program supporting its defense science and technology.

CASI identified Beihang’s thermal engineering department-which oversees a Defense Science and Technology Key Laboratory for aero-engine aerodynamics and thermodynamics-as having established a joint combustion research team with Purdue.

Beihang is now on the Pentagon’s Section 1286 list of foreign institutions subject to tighter research security restrictions.

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REVEALED: Anti-American Socialist Hasan Piker’s Brother Reportedly Held TOP-SECRET Security Clearance — Worked on Air Force One and Nuclear “Doomsday Plane” at Boeing

While far-left Twitch millionaire Hasan Piker built an enormous following attacking the United States, praising communist dictators, and declaring that America “deserved 9/11,” his younger brother was reportedly working on some of the nation’s most sensitive military aircraft.

Murat Piker, Hasan’s younger brother and frequent livestream companion, spent more than a decade working as an aerospace engineer at Boeing, according to a bombshell report from the Washington Free Beacon.

His projects reportedly included the new Air Force One, the E-6B Mercury nuclear command aircraft, airborne surveillance systems, military drones, satellites, and Boeing spacecraft.

According to Murat’s public LinkedIn profile, he worked for Boeing Defense & Space and helped lead the mechanical design and integration of next-generation satellite structures.

“I hold a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA and possess active Security Clearances,” his profile states.

A person familiar with Murat’s employment history told the Free Beacon that he held a “top secret” security clearance.

That would have placed the brother of one of America’s loudest anti-American socialist influencers inside the heavily vetted world of classified defense contracting.

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Huntsville Defense Firm Unveils Homegrown “Firefly” Laser That Zaps Enemy Drones in Seconds

A Huntsville, Alabama defense company gave an up-close demonstration this week of a powerful new anti-drone laser system designed to knock unmanned aerial threats out of the sky before they can endanger U.S. military personnel or American civilians.

KBR and its Huntsville-based subsidiary Kord demonstrated FIREFLY, a mobile high-energy laser weapon designed to detect, track, and destroy unmanned aircraft before they can reach American troops, civilian gatherings, or critical infrastructure.

Attendees were required to put on laser-protection goggles before the test began. On a live screen, observers watched as the system’s sensors and AI-assisted targeting technology identified and followed a drone.

Then FIREFLY took it down.

Axios reported that the truck-mounted 20-kilowatt system disabled the quadcopter in under four seconds. Kord officials said the onboard batteries provide roughly 15 minutes of total “laser-on time,” the unit can be deployed in about 30 minutes, and an operator can learn the controls in as little as five minutes.

“This is a homegrown product,” KBR’s David Zoller said, according to WAFF.

“I think often we can look at the work that happens in Huntsville, you see Redstone, you see all the traffic and everything, and you kinda have to wonder what’s going on over there,” Zoller continued. “Well, it’s protecting the people, and this is one of the methods that we’re doing it.”

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How Lockheed Martin, Raytheon & Bae Systems Are Propagandizing Children To Support War Through Stem

Raytheon sponsors the Girl Scouts of America. BAE Systems is reading your toddlers their favorite fairytale stories. And Lockheed Martin funds children’s math and STEM festivals. This is done with great fanfare, supposedly to empower and inspire children to pursue their passion for science. In reality, though, these companies are attempting to launder their images and enlist the next generation to become cogs in the military-industrial complex.

All the while, these organizations’ products are being used across the world by the United States and Israel to commit war crimes – in Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and beyond – to target children.

MintPress explores the murky world of the arms companies training kids to bomb kids.

Normalizing War to Kids

When many Americans think of Raytheon (now officially rebranded as RTX Corporation), they don’t envisage rockets and cruise missiles; they think of math. For decades, the second-largest arms manufacturer on the planet has bankrolled a wide range of organizations aimed at getting children excited about STEM subjects.

Since 2009, Raytheon has been the title sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a non-profit organization that provides engaging math programs for middle school students in every U.S. state, as well as organizing math competitions to find the brightest children in America.

In 2005, Raytheon launched its MathMovesU program, aimed, in its own words, “to inspire middle school students to get excited about math and science.” In addition to the materials provided, it has also spent millions on scholarships, grants, and study awards to thousands of students, teachers, and volunteers.

And its MathAlive! traveling exhibit promises, in rather outdated branding, to take math “2theXtreme”. MathAlive! Has also traveled to several countries in West Asia, including Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – all of them among the biggest purchasers of Raytheon weapons technology.

The company also enjoys a longtime partnership with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA). In 2017, for example, it launched the GSUSA’s first national computer science program and cyber challenge for middle and high school girls.“

The progress to diversify the STEM workforce needs to be accelerated… At a time when technology is transforming the way we live and work, we can – and should – show young women a clear path to taking an active role in this transformation,” said Thomas A. Kennedy, then-Raytheon CEO; “Working together, Raytheon and Girl Scouts will help girls build confidence to see themselves as the robotics engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals who will create a better tomorrow.”

Raytheon also spearheaded the GSUSA’s “Think Like a Programmer” project, which encourages girls to explore the world of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and developed many of the programming badges available to the scouts.

GSUSA appears proud of this relationship. Its website profiles one former scout who now works at Raytheon as a success story and a model to follow. The article includes a step-by-step guide and a list of tips for those wishing to follow in her footsteps.

Unsurprisingly, Raytheon also works closely with the U.S. military on these matters, establishing four new STEM “centers of innovation” with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., all near military bases.

While some might be surprised by the closeness of the relationship between a children’s organization and an arms manufacturer, it is worth remembering that the scouting movement was originally established by Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, as a stepping stone towards boys joining the military. Baden-Powell was deeply concerned that English boys would not be physically fit enough to fight for their country in any upcoming wars, and designed an organization that would train them both physically and mentally to do so.

Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade was unimpressed by Raytheon’s attempts to improve their image and to train the next generation of weapons manufacturers. “Our view is that arms companies have no place in schools or colleges, and should certainly not be working with children’s educational charities,” she told MintPress, adding:

“Schools and other places of education should be places where children learn, grow and develop their full potential. They should not be a recruiting ground where arms companies whitewash their activities.”

Keep reading

“Robin Hood In Reverse”: The Pentagon Is Stealing From the Working Poor to Pay for War and Enrich Contractors

In an era of high prices for fuel, food, and housing, an extra $4,000 could make a lifesaving difference for many families. But instead, that’s what the average household had to shell out for the Pentagon last year.

That’s right: The average US taxpayer in 2025 had over $4,000 taken out of their paychecks to fund the Pentagon, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. In the coming years, that amount is set to rise as Congress considers a $1.5 trillion war budget for 2027.

For the growing number of working poor in the United States, that money can mean the difference between making rent or falling behind, or between being able to afford an emergency trip to the doctor or going without care.

Money directed to the Pentagon represents nothing but betrayal for many Americans. A large majority oppose our wars, especially the latest conflict in Iran. And roughly half of the Pentagon’s budget flows to for-profit contractors, fueling the billionaire (and now even trillionaire) class.

Take SpaceX, one of many companies built on government contracts funded by taxpayer dollars. Elon Musk’s company would not exist without US taxpayers. As early Tesla investor Ross Gerber put it, “There would not be (Tesla and SpaceX) if it weren’t for the government.”

Early investments and contracts from the US government helped propel SpaceX to success, while continued awards from the Pentagon provided the stable revenue that made the government one of Musk’s largest customers. The company is now valued at more than $1 trillion. Private investors alone did not make Musk a trillionaire—taxpayers across the United States did.

But Musk isn’t the only person who made himself rich off the backs of American workers.

Lockheed Martin receives over 70% of its revenue from US government contracts. The numbers for Raytheon and General Dynamics are similar. These military contractors simply would not exist without the taxpayers—and a new $1.5 trillion budget would send hundreds of billions of dollars more to people who already have more than most Americans could even conceptualize.

At the same time, while taxpayers are subsidizing the military-industrial complex, the jobs those industries are allegedly providing are in decline, with the war industry creating over 2 million fewer jobs than it did 40 years ago.

Worse still, under the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” Republicans passed a year ago, the money for these ever-rising Pentagon budgets comes directly from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and other programs that help Americans make ends meet.

Under those cuts, millions of Americans—including children—have lost SNAP benefits already. And that’s impacting not just families but the farmers who helped feed them.

SNAP benefits were “guaranteed money in the pockets of farmers,” said Reese Amxy, a policy organizer at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. But 150,000 people in the state have already lost eligibility.

It’s not just Illinois. Arizona has seen the steepest decline, with 50% of recipients—nearly half a million—already losing benefits. Louisiana (21%), Florida (20%), Oklahoma (16%), Virginia (16%), Texas (14%), Wyoming (13%), and Arkansas (12%) round out the rest of the hardest hit states so far.

Yet the person who lost SNAP and the farmer who lost their income alike will be asked to foot the bill for the $1.5 trillion war budget. This is Robin Hood in reverse. Worse still, the weapons those taxes buy are often to use to kill children like ours in Gaza and Iran.

The weapons and tech CEOs that would benefit from the massive war budget, and the politicians bought off by them, seek to keep this cycle going next year at an even grander scale. Americans need to demand their lawmakers say no more Pentagon spending—and invest in the things that actually keep our communities safe instead.

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Anduril Unveils Tiltrotor Killer Drone Straight Out Of ‘Terminator’

Palmer Luckey’s defense company Anduril Industries unveiled Thunder, an autonomous aircraft designed to deliver missiles, drones, electronic-warfare systems and cargo into heavily contested airspace.

“In this new era of maneuver warfare, we need eyes for what’s ahead and a shield for what we can’t afford to lose,” Anduril wrote in a tweet.

Thunder is a Group 5 autonomous attack rotorcraft, meaning it weighs more than 1,320 pounds, as shown in the UAS classification chart below, courtesy of Piper Sandler.

Anduril noted, “A first of its kind for attack aviation. A thunderous step forward for maneuver dominance.”

Thunder’s modular payload bays can carry configurations including 10 air-to-ground missiles, 16 Altius-600 launched effects, or 76 70mm rockets, plus 12 counter-drone interceptors.

Pairing three Thunders with a single Apache helicopter could triple the formation’s available munitions without putting additional human pilots at risk.

Anduril added, “Mass is only achievable if the platform delivering it is producible and affordable. The common dual-use baseline behind Thunder drives the economies of scale, expanded demand, and broad supply chains critical to drive down costs and de-risk the pathway to large-scale production.”

X users are pointing out that Anduril just made the “tilt rotor version of the Terminator Hunter Killer drone.“

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Lockheed Martin To Produce Cheaper Patriot Interceptor Missiles To Address Skyrocketing Demand for Air Defense

Air defense is the name of the game.

It’s an unfortunate fact that we live in an increasingly dangerous world full of conflict.

Everywhere you turn, countries are hearing the martial drums in the air, and are rearming like there’s no tomorrow.

And in this brave new world of cheap swarming drones, the biggest bottleneck in the defense procurement of these countries is the air defense systems and intercepting missiles.

It also doesn’t help that the most sought-after systems and missiles, the Patriot, are exceedingly expensive and slow to manufacture.

In this scenario, Lockheed Martin announced today (20) a lower-cost Patriot interceptor, as the established defense contractors ‘face competition from startups making low-cost weapons that can ​be produced at scale’.

Reuters reported:

“Lockheed said its new PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector, or ​ACE, missile would cost less than half as much as its ⁠PAC-3 MSE interceptors, which cost roughly $4 million per missile, according to U.S. ​Army budget documents.

Initial production could start within 36 months, the company said, adding that ​it plans to develop and manufacture the weapon with U.S. and European industry partners.

‘American and allied warfighters need a solution that is battle-tested and budget-smart’, Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin ​Missiles and Fire Control, said in a statement at Britain’s Farnborough Airshow.”

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Report: Trump Sons Build Defense Portfolio as Pentagon Billions Flow

President Donald Trump’s sons have built a broad portfolio of defense technology investments as their father’s administration directs more money toward drones, robotics, artificial intelligence, and other new weapons systems.

Funds linked to Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in at least 15 companies seeking business from the Pentagon and other federal agencies, according to a Washington Post analysis. Most of the investments came after Trump won reelection.

Since the sons invested, says the report,

The companies have collectively generated at least $3.2 billion in direct government business since the sons invested and an additional $3.1 billion in future contract options. Some have gained coveted spots on shortlists of preapproved contractors that can bid exclusively on up to nearly $200 billion in future work.

The explosion of the family’s financial wealth does not stop with the sons. A disclosure filed in 2026 showed that Trump himself reported at least $2.2 billion in income for 2025, up from about $600 million the previous year. That works out to roughly $6 million per day. His accounts also made thousands of securities trades across the economy, including investments in defense companies and other industries heavily regulated by, or dependent on, federal policy.

The Money Trail

The Trump sons’ investments reportedly flow mainly through two firms.

Donald Trump, Jr. joined venture-capital firm 1789 Capital as a partner within days of his father’s 2024 election victory. The firm promotes what its partners call “patriotic capitalism.” It invested in 11 of the 15 defense, robotics, and AI companies identified by The Post.

Meanwhile, Eric Trump has invested primarily through American Ventures. The firm operates through Dominari Holdings, a small investment bank based in Trump Tower. Eric Trump told the outlet that he was “one of several passive investors.”

Neither brother holds a government position. Neither had notable experience in defense technology before the investment drive began. Both remain executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization.

The Companies

The companies that the Trump-linked firms invested in range from industry giants to little-known startups.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX accounted for about $2.1 billion in direct federal business after the investment and another $1.2 billion in potential commitments, according to The Post. Musk was also Trump’s largest financial backer in 2024. He spent nearly $300 million supporting Trump and other Republicans.

SpaceX was already deeply dependent on Washington. As of February 2025, it reportedly held about $22 billion in government contracts, including roughly $15 billion from NASA.

Its military role has since expanded sharply. This May, SpaceX won a $4.16 billion Space Force contract for satellites designed to track and target airborne threats. Days earlier, it secured another $2.29 billion to build a military satellite communications network.

Those systems could form important parts of Trump’s controversial Golden Dome missile shield. SpaceX was previously identified as a leading contender for the program, alongside Anduril and Palantir (all run by Trump’s mega donors).

Anduril ranked second in The Post’s tally. It accounted for about $1 billion in direct government business and another $122.9 million in potential work. The company builds autonomous drones, surveillance systems, missiles, and counter-drone technology.

Together, SpaceX and Anduril accounted for 97 percent of the direct federal money identified by The Post.

The remaining investments covered automated weapons factories, rare earth magnets, quantum computing, humanoid robots, drones, rocket fuel, and targeting software. Hadrian and Vulcan Elements secured the largest potential commitments among the smaller firms. Other companies included Databricks, Foundation Future Industries, Unusual Machines, Firehawk Aerospace, Perplexity AI, PsiQuantum, and Aeon Industrial.

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