Tag: military industrial complex

British Royal Navy’s Spy Drones Have Cameras Suspected of Sending Back Data to China

Who are these drones spying for, in the end?

The Royal Navy is fighting a war with Britain, to have resources to modernize and expand the much-diminished forced, said to be the smallest-ever.

But even when modernization efforts do come, they are not without issues, as we’ve learned this week.

It’s been widely reported that the Royal Navy spy drones used by Britain’s elite special forces had cameras suspected to be secretly sending sent data to China, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Telegraph reported:

“The cameras on the K3 Scout surveillance drones had components made in China which were transmitting information to a device in the country.

The Royal Marines have been using the £12m fleet since March and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was forced to remove all internet connectivity from the cameras after discovering the breach.

The revelation raises fears that Beijing has been attempting to spy on Britain’s military after years of security warnings about the threat from the country.”

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Canadian Military Celebrates Occupation of Haiti

Sunday was National Peacekeepers’ Day and the Canadian Forces had the temerity to celebrate the UN occupation of Haiti. Through UN missions Ottawa has contributed to major US imperial crimes.

On its Facebook page the military noted, “On this day, we honour the courage, dedication, and commitment of all Canadians who have served – and continue to serve – in peacekeeping operations around the globe. Since 1948, more than 125,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces, over 4,500 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and hundreds of Canadian civilians have served in international peace support missions to more than 35 countries.”

The photo that accompanied the post was of two white soldiers looking at a young Black boy in Port-au-Prince as part of Operation Hamlet, which was the name for the Canadian Forces’ participation in the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) from 2004 to 2017.

After consolidating a US, France and Canada military coup against Haiti’s elected government the UN mission was responsible for countless abuses. The foreign soldiers had sex with minors, sodomized boys, raped young girls and left many single mothers to struggle with stigma and poverty after departing the country. Beyond sexual abuse, the UN’s disregard for Haitian life caused a major cholera outbreak, which left over 10,000 dead and a million ill.

500 Canadian troops were part of the UN mission that backed up the coup government’s (2004-2006) violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters. For years Canada led the policing component of a UN force that also killed dozens of civilians directly in pacifying Cité Soleil, a bastion of support for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

It’s not just Haiti. Canada played a significant role in the UN peacekeeping force that contributed to one of the worst post-independence imperial crimes in Africa. In 1960 the UN launched a peacekeeping force that delivered a major blow to Congolese independence aspirations by undermining elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. As detailed in Canada, the Congo Crisis, and UN Peacekeeping, 1960-64, Canadian soldiers played a significant role in the Organisation des Nations Unies au Congo (ONUC) force that enabled Lumumba’s assassination. Canadian troops dominated intelligence-gathering positions within the UN mission, and they worked to undermine Lumumba. After the PM escaped house arrest and fled Leopoldville for his power base in the Eastern Orientale province, Canadian Colonel Jean Berthiaume assisted Lumumba’s political enemies by helping recapture him. Kept in place by Ottawa, the UN Chief of Staff tracked the deposed prime minister and Berthiaume informed the head of the military, Joseph Mobutu, of Lumumba’s whereabouts. The elected prime minister was killed soon after.

Through UN missions in Haiti (2004), Congo (1960) and Korea (1950) Ottawa contributed directly to major US imperial crimes. Canada’s sizable contribution to UN missions in Egypt and Cyprus were largely designed to reduce tensions within NATO. In Egypt (1956) the US opposed the British/French invasion while in Cyprus (1964) NATO members Turkey and Greece were on opposite sides.

As far as I can tell, major Canadian peacekeeping missions have always received support from Washington. Still, many liberal/Left commentators ignore the power politics driving UN missions.

In recent days Rideau Institute president Peggy Mason and Royal Military College professor Walter Dorn have been quoted in major outlets complaining about the Liberals abandoning UN peacekeeping. In the CBC Dorn explicitly linked participating in peacekeeping to Great power competition with China, noting “we’re ceding more rights and more territory for China to take over leadership.”

Dorn is correct to (indirectly) highlight the geopolitical motivations driving UN missions.

It’s correct to say that Canada’s participation in UN missions has generally been less damaging than its involvement in US/NATO wars in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya. But, that’s not an argument for blanketly promoting peacekeeping.

The stark reality is that Ottawa has never deployed large number of troops abroad principally to promote international law or justice.

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S.C. military base renamed after late Senator Lindsey Graham

Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina has officially been renamed Joint Base Lindsey Graham.

On Monday, a ceremony took place at the 24,000 acre base in honor of the late senator.       

His sister, Senator Darline Graham (R-S.C.), War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Governor Henry McMaster (R-S.C.) unveiled the new base sign. 

Graham highlighted her brother’s over 33 years of service in the Air Force and in the Senate, saying he loved his state and country.   

“What an honor for my brother,” she said. “And what a tribute to his 33 years of service. Lindsey loved the Air Force. He loved its mission. He loved wearing the uniform of his country. His interest in foreign affairs and national security started with his service in the Air Force.”

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Ukraine Faces Growing Air Defense Crisis As Patriot Supplies Dwindle

  • Ukraine failed to intercept any of the 24 ballistic missiles and four Zircon cruise missiles Russia fired in the August 5 attack, underscoring the strain on its missile defenses.
  • U.S. Patriot availability has become a significant constraint after extensive interceptor use during the Iran conflict.
  • Kyiv is increasingly seeking European inventories, expanded production, and eventually licensed or joint Patriot manufacturing to secure its air defenses ahead of winter.

Ukraine’s failure to intercept a single Russian missile during a large-scale overnight attack this week has raised fresh concerns over Kyiv’s dwindling supply of air-defense interceptors as Moscow escalates its ballistic missile strikes on the nearly defenseless capital and other regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that deliveries of anti-ballistic interceptor missiles from partner countries have fallen sharply, leaving Ukraine vulnerable to deadly attacks that are being launched by Russia with increasing frequency.

Following a meeting with Ukraine’s military leadership on protecting critical infrastructure on August 2, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received only a third as many air-defense interceptors this year compared to the same period in 2025.

“Our partners have the missiles. What is needed are the necessary political decisions on deliveries and on accelerating production, including localization in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze, who was in Kyiv during the most recent attack on August 5, condemned Russia’s latest strikes, which lit up the late-night skies with balls of flames from massive explosions.

“It was a vile attack on Ukrainians. I was hiding in the shelter along with a number of them and admiring their resilience. Russia is a terrorist state and needs to be contained,” she wrote on X.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha also urged allies not to slow military assistance.

Speaking on August 5, he said:

“Russian strikes take no summer vacation; support for Ukraine and pressure on the aggressor must not pause, either. Every interceptor counts. They are life-saving tools.”

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Trump Threatens To Jail Arms Shortage ‘Leakers’

President Trump on Thursday threatened “leakers” with jail time over reports about dwindling US military stockpiles as a result of the Iran war, and claimed the US had plenty of munitions available.

“The US has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types. Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the US as needed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history. The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down,” the president added.

Some of the most significant reports about the shortage of advanced munitions didn’t come from media reports but from analysis published by the think tank the Center for International Studies (CSIS), which used publicly available data to produce its estimates.

CSIS found that the US has used about 60% of its advanced Patriot air defense missiles and about half of its interceptors for the THAAD missile defense system, though sources told CNN that the US had actually used about 80% of its THAADs during the war.

While Trump says that US arms makers are working to produce more munitions, the current rate of weapons use far exceeds the rate at which they can be produced, and it will take years to significantly increase production.

Media reports have also said that the US has used up nearly all of its ATACMS missiles and Precision-Strike Missiles, which were both used extensively in strikes on Iran.

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Camp David Clash: Trump Hammered Hegseth For Misleading Him On Arms Supply, WaPo Reports

Following reports that US forces have “used up virtually all” of their precision, long-range missiles in futile attempts to first trigger an Iranian regime change and then to compel Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, now comes reporting that an angry President Trump confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in recent days, accusing the Pentagon of misleading him on critical munitions shortages that leave Trump increasingly powerless in the five-month-old fiasco of a war. 

According to sources cited by the Washington Post, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to concern about retaliation, Trump’s ire erupted alongside a cabinet meeting held Friday at Camp David. Trump expressed consternation that he’d been assured that the weapon shortage “had been fixed” when that is apparently far from true.     

According to “multiple officials” who — reading between the lines — clearly seem to have had it with Fox News talking-head-suddenly-turned-Defense-secretary, Hegseth defended his own actions and tried redirecting the blame to Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, a billionaire GOP donor whom Trump plucked out of his role as co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management to give him the number-two job at the Pentagon. Hegseth was said to have thrown Feinberg under the bus for both the shortages and failing to keep Trump fully informed.  

The officials characterized Trump as increasingly exasperated by Hegseth, whom they describe as one of the most enthusiastic supporters of launching a war on Iran, saying he persuaded Trump that victory would come quickly and easily. The war that the administration once projected to last three or four weeks is now in its sixth month. Iran has used both its sophisticated missile technology and its inexpensive but huge arsenal of drones to wreak havoc on US and allied forces around the Gulf. Hammered by a shock and awe campaign peppered with the multiple incidents involving mass casualties among innocents — including scores of elementary schoolgirls — the Iranian people have rallied around the Islamic regime, for all its faults. At least 18 US service members lay dead, several hundred have been wounded, and some estimates of the war’s cost to date exceed $100 billion.  

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Fresh Panic As Pentagon Has Used ‘Virtually All’ Its Long-Range Precision Missiles On Iran

US forces “used up virtually all” of their precision, long-range missiles during the course of the Iran war, and during the earlier heavy US-Israeli campaign of Operation Epic Fury, Reutersreported Tuesday.

This has raised serious “concerns about the military’s ​readiness for future conflicts,” informed sources told the outlet. In particular it is the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) which are said to be running critically low.

“Washington has used virtually all of these weapons,” two sources told Reuters, after several media reports and think tank studies had already sounded the alarm over dwindling missiles amid both the Iran war and in the years-long process of supplying Ukraine. Low Patriot defense missile supplies have also been a persisting issue in the headlines.

They are costly and time-consuming in terms of manufacturing replacements. For example a single ATACMS munition costs about $1 million.

One immediate consequence could be that if heavy bombardment of Iran starts up again, the US would have to conduct riskier piloted aerial bombings – instead relying on longer range precision strikes afforded by the land-based systems at safer distances.

And another, somewhat obvious consequence, is highlighted in the following: “But as ​the war drags on, the three people familiar with the matter expressed worry that the falling missile supplies could limit the U.S. ability to deter adversaries, including Russia and China.”

The report added: “A fourth person ⁠familiar with the matter said that while Central Command — which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East — has nearly used up the land-based missiles it had before the war began, it has been able to reload from U.S. military supplies elsewhere in the ​world.”

President Trump has of late responded to these now widespread reports of badly depleted advanced munitions, explaining that “Our defense companies are, at this moment, making more munitions than they have ever made before, ​in addition to expanding their plants and equipment at record levels.”

Additionally,  Secretary of War Pete Hegseth took to social media to refute the report, calling it false news.

“That banner is NOT TRUE, CNN. Shame on you,” the Pentagon chief said in a post on X. “We don’t hate the Fake News media enough.”

Hegseth was specifically referring to a CNN on-screen banner that read: “Sources: U.S. has used nearly 80% of key missile interceptors in Iran war, top commanders warn stockpiles dangerously low.”

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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.”

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Canada’s new inclusive ‘spiritual reflections’ policy bans prayer at military ceremonies

A Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) member blasted a new “spiritual reflections” military policy direction that essentially bans using any religious-specific language or even references to God in most military ceremonies.

“We used to have a robust and inclusive prayer policy where we could pray in an inclusive way that aligned with our faith traditions,” a CAF member told LifeSiteNews under condition of anonymity.

The CAF member noted that the previous prayer policy is “very important in our tradition around commemorating the dead, Remembrance Day, Battle of Britain, Battle of the Atlantic, and (so on).”

“However, now we are not allowed to pray in public. The new policy means chaplains can only do a secular reflection in public.”

On July 29, the CAF officially released what its “Spiritual reflections in military settings” policy that provides direction to both military chaplains and CAF members on what is expected during military ceremonies.

The new policy mandates that when CAF members give public or even semi-public remarks at an event such as a Remembrance Day ceremony, they “shall uphold the principle of state religious and spiritual neutrality by not using words, actions, or symbols that are specific to a particular spiritual or faith tradition (SFT) on the part of the Government of Canada.”

“This does not include personal religious items of dress, which may be worn as authorized by the CAF Dress Instructions,” the CAF noted.

Instead, CAF members must offer a godless and “inclusive” spiritual reflection instead for the following:

  • graduation parades;
  • change of command ceremonies;
  • ship commissioning;
  • ribbon-cuttings/ dedications for infrastructure projects;
  • honours and awards ceremonies;
  • festive/ Seasonal or Mess dinners; or
  • other military institutional commemorations (e.g. Remembrance Day, Battle of Britain, Battle of the Atlantic).

At this time, it appears that military and state funerals are not included in the new policy. However, “Indigenous Cultural Practices” are afforded a wider berth than traditional faiths such as Christianity.

The new policy direction is not a surprise. In 2023, the CAF issued a directive that put harsh restrictions on public prayer. After public backlash, including from many CAF members. the orders were rescinded.

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The Pentagon’s Hidden Housing Scandal: Outsourcing Duty Of Care

Sen. Jon Ossoff released a report on July 8 documenting lead exposure in a newborn, mold-related emergency room visits, and a cockroach infestation living inside a family’s oven, all in privatized military housing at Fort Benning and Fort Stewart. Read it and you’d think it was written in 2022. It wasn’t. That’s the scandal: the Pentagon outsourced a duty of care to private landlords and never enforced the contracts meant to keep it intact.

I’ve spent thirty years in institutional investment management and now serve as an expert witness in fiduciary litigation. The pattern is one I recognize immediately: an institution hands a core obligation to a private operator, collects a fee for oversight it doesn’t actually perform, and treats the delegation itself as if it discharged the duty. It didn’t. Outsourcing a duty of care doesn’t outsource the duty.

Congress created the Military Housing Privatization Initiative in 1996 to fix decrepit on-base housing without loading the capital cost onto the Pentagon’s books. Private companies would own, renovate, and maintain the homes under leases running as long as fifty years, with servicemembers’ Basic Allowance for Housing flowing straight to the landlord as rent. The Pentagon would keep oversight, backed by incentive fees for good performance and penalties for bad. On paper, a clean alignment of interests. In practice, a guaranteed revenue stream with an oversight function nobody actually staffed.

Fort Stewart’s housing has been run by Balfour Beatty Communities since the base was privatized. In December 2021, Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to one count of major fraud against the United States, agreeing to pay more than $65 million in criminal fines, restitution, and a related civil settlement. The company’s employees falsified maintenance records and destroyed resident comment cards between 2013 and 2019 to fraudulently collect incentive fees they hadn’t earned. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the fraud was “a consequence of BBC’s broken corporate culture” that put profit ahead of servicemembers’ welfare.

Four months later, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found the conduct hadn’t stopped. Its bipartisan staff report on the mistreatment of military families in privatized housing documented that Balfour’s post-2019 behavior mirrored the misconduct behind its guilty plea; in the same period the company was under active federal investigation. A company can plead guilty to defrauding the government over housing conditions and keep collecting Basic Allowance for Housing checks from the families living in the homes it failed.

Fast-forward to this month. Fort Stewart is still Balfour Beatty’s. Fort Benning’s housing is run by a different company, the Michaels Organization’s Villages of Benning. Ossoff’s report found nearly identical failures at both: mold, lead, cover-ups, families told their complaints were handled when they weren’t. That detail should stop anyone from treating this as one bad company. Two operators, two installations, the same pattern. The failure sits in the oversight structure, not the logo on the leasing office.

The government’s own auditors have said as much. In an April 2023 report, the Government Accountability Office made 19 recommendations to improve DOD’s oversight of privatized housing, including a priority recommendation that the Pentagon set clear, consistent, department-wide home inspection standards, after finding that comparable maintenance problems were getting graded differently depending on who held the clipboard. As of GAO’s most recent public status update, that priority recommendation was still open, with DOD not expecting signed guidance until mid-2025 at the earliest. Congress had to legislate the fix GAO had already recommended.

This is the same structural failure I’ve written about previously in public pension governance, wearing a uniform instead of a suit. A pension trustee who delegates asset management to an outside manager doesn’t delegate away fiduciary responsibility for the outcome; the law is explicit that the duty stays with the trustee. The Pentagon’s relationship with its housing contractors works the same way as a matter of principle, even though the enforcement mechanism is a lease rather than ERISA. Both share the same defect: an incentive-fee structure that pays out on paperwork instead of results, and an oversight office too thin to catch the difference until a senator’s staff does the job for it.

That fix is now in the books. The Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, signed in December, directs the Secretary of War to establish a standard inspection and audit program for privatized and government-owned housing using independent, qualified inspectors, and separately tightens the rules on when a housing company may close a maintenance work order. Falsified paperwork closed BBC’s work orders and inflated its bonuses for six years before anyone with subpoena power looked at the underlying data; an inspector who doesn’t answer to the landlord closes that loophole.

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