Tag: military industrial complex

F-35A’s 25mm Gun Still Needs Tests To Verify It Works

The Pentagon says more testing is required to demonstrate that the 25mm automatic cannon mounted internally on the F-35A variant of the Joint Strike Fighter is indeed now an effective weapon. Various software and hardware issues had long left the stealthy jets unable to shoot straight, but fixes intended to resolve them have been implemented.

New questions about the actual effectiveness of the F-35A’s internal gun emerged last month after the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), an independent nonprofit, published a heavily redacted declassified copy of a report on the Joint Strike Fighter program from the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). POGO obtained the document, which is dated February 2024, via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and provided its own analysis of the contents. The report also underscored long-standing maintenance and logistics challenges that have contributed to historically low readiness rates across all variants of the F-35 and that could have worrisome impacts on future combat operations. The War Zone has explored those issues and their broader ramifications in detail in a past feature.

“The F-35 lethality assessment suffered from the inability of the F-35’s gun to hit the targets because of design and installation issues,” according to an unredacted section of the February 2024 DOT&E report that POGO obtained.

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Russia Raises Military Budget for Next Three Years

What began as a special military operation has turned into the start of the next world war, and Russia is paying heavily. Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a new budget over the weekend that will allocate 32.5% of the total budget (13.5 trillion rubles) for FY25 to defense spending, which accounts for 6.2% of total GDP.

The amount in proportion to the total budget spent on defense in FY24 was 28.3%. Notably, the budget is factoring in military costs for the next three years – this war will not simply end with Trump. Russia’s pre-war military expenditure was only 3.6 trillion rubles, rising to 5.5 trillion at the beginning of the war from 5.5 trillion rubles in 2022 to 6.4 trillion rubles in 2023.

Russia must find a way to finance this war. The Kremlin estimates GDP for 2024 to come in at 195.8 trillion rubles, although last year’s GDP was 172.1 trillion rubles. The GDP for 2025 is anticipated to be 214.6 trillion rubles. The nation is confident it will continue earning but that is not enough to fund the growing war.

Putin has already raised taxes for the first time in nearly 25 years. The corporate tax rate will rise by 5% from 20% to 25%. The government expects to generate an additional 2.6 trillion rubles in revenue once the tax is implemented in 2025. Russia’s Finance Ministry believes that 2 million people, 3.2% of the working population, will see a rise in their taxes. Taxes on investments will not change. “The changes are aimed at building a fair and balanced tax system,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, adding that the additional funds would bolster Russia’s “economic well-being.”

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The Insanity of Neocons

Stephen Bryen, who’s now retired from a stellar career at the very highest levels both in the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex and in the Executive and also the Legislative branches of the U.S. Government, and whose predictions about the war in Ukraine war thus far have consistently turned out to be true, is, for whatever reason, nonetheless a neocon (advocate for increasing yet further the U.S. empire) in the case of China; and, so, while he’s realistic about the need for the U.S. Government to withdraw from Ukraine, he is nonetheless a normal neocon in regards to China.

On November 29th, he headlined “China Alarmed As US Marine Prepare HIMARS and ATACMS for Yonaguni”, and argued that it’s a good move by Biden now, that he’ll be placing in Japan U.S. missiles that can hit Taiwan for the purpose of “stopping a Taiwan invasion,” by which stupid phrase he intends to mean that we’ll be stopping “an invasion of Taiwan,” by — you guess whom, which is, of course, according to the neocons’ plan, to be done by — China, as soon as Taiwan will announce that it is NOT a part of China, and for which purpose the U.S. Government has been arming Taiwan so that Taiwan can then (with American weapons and maybe direct Military involvement) resist the invasion by China that will be China’s inevitable response to this U.S.-planned breakaway from China by Taiwan. And THAT will then give the U.S. Government the ‘right’ to invade and conquer China — which is the real objective of all of this scheming and war-planning by Breyen and ogther neocons.

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Weakness, Not Wokeness, Plagues US Generals

“The military is run by civilians, but the politics are supposed to stay outside,” one currently serving Army lieutenant general told Military.com. “It could be very hard to do our job if we have to constantly be making sure we’re appeasing someone on a political or partisan level.”1

 An active duty three-star general gave this anonymous quote published in military.com in mid-November 2024 reflecting fear and frustration amongst US generals with the coming analysis of American generals and a board to decide which ones are fit to continue to serve. Ironically, this general’s statement sums up EXACTLY why US generals deserve scrutiny and why many deserve the pink slip. First, the general spoke anonymously, reflecting a lack of personal courage and conviction to put his/her name on the record. Second, the comment about “appeasing” betrays what generals have been doing for decades. Generals, like leaders in any industry should be strong willed and confident enough to speak up to correct a wrong, regardless if it is politically unpopular and/or puts their career at risk. Unfortunately, modern generals with this quality are tragically few and far between. Instead, the legion of generals behave like meerkats, banding together like the comical safari documentaries about the animals. An exploration of exactly why the generals deserve scrutiny and termination for failure to perform their duty follows:

FRAUD

When budgets get extremely inflated, it is very easy to ‘lose money’ through acts of commission or omission by Pentagon leadership. Stories such as these are not uncommon:

(2024): “Raytheon to pay $950m over fraud, bribery, schemes.” The fraud scheme was from 2000 to 2020. Recall that the current SECDEF was an executive at Raytheon 2016-2020 during the height of the fraud…2

(2023): “‘This was not a surprise:’ Pentagon again fails annual audit of $3.8Trillion in assets.”3

(2021): “The Pentagon has Never Passed an Audit. Some Senators Want to Change That.”4

Waste

 In the author’s 15 years of active-duty service, the US Army went through the following uniform changes at the expense of billions of taxpayers’ dollars:

3 physical fitness uniforms

  3 everyday/combat uniforms

  3 formal uniforms

  3 dress uniforms

None of these uniform changes contributed in any way to victory in America’s longest war. The only benefactors were the companies that made the uniforms and associated apparel (military industrial complex). Silence from the US generals.

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US Military Supplier Accuses Ukraine’s Police and Ministry of Defense of Corruption

Sinclair & Wilde, which supplies military uniforms to Ukraine, has accused the country’s National Police and Ministry of Defense of corruption and extortion over unpaid equipment. The company made the claim in an open letter posted by BGD Legal & Consulting, its official representative.

“Sinclair & Wilde categorically denies the false and baseless claims made in the recently released video by the National Police Force of Ukraine [which alleges illegitimate price hikes by the US firm]. It is clear that the release of this story is an attempt by the National Police Force to cover up their own internal corruption and the corruption of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in its continued attempts to deny payment to Sinclair & Wilde after it repeatedly refused to pay bribes requested of it,” the letter states.

Sinclair & Wilde signed five contracts with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense for military uniforms. The company reportedly agreed to delay a $12.5 million payment on the fifth contract until the equipment was delivered. However, Ukraine purportedly later refused to pay both the fifth contract and the outstanding debt from the first one, despite receiving the goods.

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China Using U.S. Investor and Consumer Funds for Its Military

The People’s Republic of China is modernizing its military for a potential conflict with the United States, with Xi Jinping aiming for readiness by 2027—though a slowing economy may delay this goal.

Despite these tensions, China continues to benefit from U.S. capital markets, with significant funding for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) coming from American investors and consumers, effectively putting U.S. money to work against its own interests.

Since 2012, U.S.-China financial ties expanded significantly but have contracted since 2020 due to China’s economic slowdown, increased capital controls, and heightened U.S. government scrutiny of investments in China.

Much of this slowdown can be directly attributed to President Trump’s U.S.-China trade war, which significantly curtailed China’s access to U.S. funds.

During his first term, President Trump recognized the China threat and imposed numerous restrictions to decrease China’s access to U.S. capital.

His administration banned U.S. investments in Chinese firms linked to the military and intelligence sectors through Executive Order 13959 and pushed for the delisting of Chinese companies that failed to comply with U.S. audit requirements under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.

The expansion of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) blocked Chinese acquisitions of U.S. firms in sensitive sectors, such as technology and infrastructure.

Trump also implemented Section 301 tariffs on over $360 billion worth of Chinese goods, reducing their competitiveness in U.S. markets. Export controls targeted critical technologies, while the federal retirement fund was barred from investing in Chinese firms.

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COP29. Climate Instability Worldwide: Does the US Military “Own the Weather”? “Weaponizing the Weather” as an Instrument of Modern Warfare?

See last year’s COP28, attending by more than 150 Heads of State and Government.  (30 November to 13 December 2023). See COP 28 decisions.

COP29 November 2024 (program) is being hosted (barely a week following the US elections) in Baku, Azerbaijan in the unstable Geopolitical Hub of the Caspian Sea.

The host country is among the largest producers of oil and natural gas worldwide. Ironically the government of Azerbaijan  has committed itself to green energy (CO2 Net Zero), requiring a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Sounds absurd.

Among the COP29 participants are representatives of civil society organizations, business interests, international organizations, billionaire philanthropies and international organizations.

COP29 as well as the host government have endorsed CO2-Net Zero.

Sounds absurd. Azerbaijan produces about 33 million tonnes of oil and 35 billion cubic meters of gas (2022 data).

The fake narrative of reducing greenhouse gas emissions sets the stage for triggering economic and social chaos including devastating impacts on family farms Worldwide.  

Assisting the Global South is COP29’s multi-billion dollar mandate: it’s a fraud! The Global South is targeted as one of main causes of  global warming. The big oil companies are not the target. Quite the opposite. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed itself to funnelling billions of dollars, coming to the rescue of impoverished farmers in the Global South.

This money will be used to initiate a new phase of neo-colonialism, leading the confiscation of land, assets and mineral resources.

Bill Gates wants to become a Top Owner of Farmland extending across the Global South. He or a member of his foundation is to address the plenary on the 14th of November, 2024.

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Trump To Remove Transgender Individuals From Military Immediately: Report

President-elect Trump will remove serving transgender individuals from the military on his first day in office, according to sources quoted in a report by the Times of London.

“The ban is expected to be wider ranging than a similar order made during his first term in office, when Trump prevented transgender people joining the armed forces, but allowed those already serving to keep their jobs,” the report notes.

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The Ukraine war is a war that should never have happened; who’s keeping it going and why?

“This is a war that should never have happened,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the beginning of the year.  “It’s a war the Russians tried repeatedly to settle on terms that were very very beneficial to Ukraine.”

“The big military contractors want to add new countries to NATO all the time,” he said. Why? “Because then that country has to conform its military purchases to NATO weapon specifications which means certain companies … get a trapped market,” he explained.

Few people understand what the war in Ukraine means for big business – namely, opportunity. It’s not just the weapons and reconstruction contracts. Ukraine’s vast agricultural lands-  among the most fertile in the world – are up for grabs, and American companies like BlackRock are at the front of the line.  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (“RFK Jr.”) deftly and clearly explains.

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UK Arms Exports Find Loopholes in Israeli Embargo

Britain has continued exporting components for use by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) because of gaps in the government’s restrictions on arms sales, it can be revealed.

At least two shipments of parts for IAF planes have been dispatched from Britain since September, when Labour suspended some arms export licences due to human rights concerns.

The information is contained within cargo documents reviewed by The Ditch and Declassified.

The documents show how items were dispatched by U.K.-based engineering firm Martin-Baker to an Elbit Systems factory in Karmiel, Israel, in October.

Martin-Baker specialises in ejection seats, which are found in military planes across the West, including in the cockpit of the IAF’s T-6 training fleet.

These aircraft are maintained by Elbit – Israel’s largest arms firm – under a $38m contract.

The revelation shows how British arms exports are continuing to support the IAF — a key player in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza — because Labour has not implemented a complete embargo.

Emily Apple, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, told Declassified: 

“The current arms suspension is a farce. This government is making up the rules as it goes, making a mockery of international law and prioritising the profits of arms dealers over Palestinian lives.

“There can be no excuses and no exceptions. The U.K. must impose an immediate, full, two-way arms embargo”.

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