More mi$$es than hits:
"Raytheon said to lobby for more of a missile that failed a test" by Tony Capaccio Bloomberg News April 12, 2016
Raytheon Co. is asking Congress to increase purchases of a Navy missile interceptor even as the Pentagon investigates the defensive weapon’s failure in a test, according to people familiar with the contractor’s efforts.
The company wants congressional defense committees to add 17 SM-3 IB missiles — at a cost of $179 million — after a $12 million missile was lost early in flight during an Oct. 31 intercept test.
Excuse me?
For use in a future false flag?
The Missile Defense Agency is still reviewing the incident, and an official said the cause appears to be a bad component.
Yeah, ‘‘unfortunately, those things happen.’’
You get what you pay fo..... $igh.
--more--"
Looks like they lo$t their way.
"Lawmakers pull plug on Raytheon blimp program" by Sophia Bollag Globe Correspondent March 23, 2016
WASHINGTON — A runaway military surveillance blimp that knocked out power for thousands when it dragged its severed tether across Maryland and Pennsylvania last year is still causing problems months later for its manufacturer, Waltham-based defense contractor Raytheon.
Citing the embarassing episode and other problems, lawmakers dealt Raytheon a blow this month by denying the latest funding request for the $3 billion program — leaving the system of unmanned blimps floating in limbo.
The pilot program, designed to detect incoming cruise missiles and other threats, involved two aerostats equipped with radar systems suspended thousands of feet in the air and tethered at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
When one of the blimps broke loose last October and floated free for 150 miles, it captured national news attention and live coverage on cable networks. It finally came to rest in a field in Moreland Township, Pennsylvania.
A spokeswoman for Raytheon said the corporation believes the program should continue.
“Raytheon believes JLENS is a proven cruise-missile defense capability,” Raytheon spokeswoman Keri Connors wrote in an e-mail to the Globe.
But Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which rejected a $27 million Army request to relaunch the blimps on March 9, said lawmakers are not convinced.
“I have very grave reservations about both the program’s safety for local communities and its national security accomplishments,” she said in a prepared statement. “We should get a lot more for our national security for $3 billion.”
The blimps are designed to detect missiles, drones, and planes, as well as ground vehicles and enemy boats.
And inflate Raytheon's profits.
The government approved a trial run for the program — the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS — to monitor the airspace over Washington and determine if the system could alert US forces to incoming threats with enough time to respond.
Similar technology is used for surveillance at American bases in the Middle East.
In October, one of the aerostats became untethered. The cord supposed to anchor the blimp to the ground trailed the airship, leaving a scar across the landscape and knocking out power lines in its wake. Roughly 35,000 Pennsylvania residents lost power as a result.
The Pentagon conducted an investigation after the incident. Although the report is not public, the Los Angeles Times reported that an air pressure monitor in the aerostat malfunctioned, causing the blimp to turn and put unsustainable pressure on the inch thick tether. A device that should have automatically deflated the balloon before it drifted too far away did not deploy because it lacked batteries.
Mikulski said the review prompted her to favor shutting down the program.
“The investigation indicated a lack of training, supervision, and oversight,” she said. “I am really worried it could happen again.”
In January, an annual Department of Defense report found that the JLENS system had not been performing properly even before the October incident. It found the system incapable of reliably tracking “high priority” targets.
“System-level reliability, both software and hardware, is not meeting the program’s goals for reliability growth,” the report said.
The JLENS program garnered attention for failures in the past, as well. In April 2015, the system failed to detect a protester who flew a gyrocopter through restricted airspace onto the Capitol lawn. And in 2010, a JLENS aerostat in North Carolina was destroyed in a storm.
That psyop stunt succeeded.
Raytheon tried to persuade lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee to save the program. But in a letter earlier this month, Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, who serves as the Republican chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, denied the Army’s request for funding to restart the program this year.
Ben Marter, a spokesman for Durbin, called the JLENS program a “big disappointment to taxpayers with a $3 billion price tag.” The trial program in Maryland was supposed to prove JLENS’ reliability so it could be expanded.
“It failed spectacularly,” Marter said.
The White House’s proposed FY2017 budget requests over $45 million to continue funding the program, but the opposition from key senators overseeing appropriations indicates lawmakers are unlikely to provide the money....
They just can't $ee through that LENS, huh?
--more--"
All that money just floated away....
"Raytheon forecasts another gain in 2016" by Richard Clough Bloomberg News January 29, 2016
NEW YORK — Raytheon Co. boosted sales last year for the first time since 2010 and forecast a second consecutive gain as the maker of Patriot missile-defense systems focuses on growth abroad.
“We continue to see strong demand internationally,” chief financial officer Toby O’Brien said in a telephone interview.
At least the war bu$ine$$ is going great guns.
The nation’s fourth-largest defense contractor has set its sights on business outside the United States as the Pentagon has tightened spending in recent years.
Raytheon also has been bulking up its cybersecurity business to generate more revenue from commercial customers.
Makes you wonder who is really behind the hacks.
International sales for the Patriot system boosted Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems unit, which increased net revenue 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter. The company also said it booked $255 million for work on systems for the Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer program....
Ah, they getting a piece of that action, too!
--more--"
All makes sense as I $ee their $tock ri$ing high:
"Saudi Arabia passes Russia as world’s third biggest military spender" Washington Post April 05, 2016
Global military spending reached almost $1.7 trillion in 2015, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time since 2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks arms expenditure around the world.
Meanwhile, the Globe is telling us peace is breaking out -- or is it?!
The United States remained far and away the top spender, which despite a dip from 2014, accounted for more than a third of total global spending. It was followed by China and then, perhaps surprisingly, Saudi Arabia, which supplanted Russia in third place.
Part of this splurge can be attributed to Saudi Arabia’s entanglement in a costly war in Yemen, which has raged for more than a year now. Since 2006, Saudi annual military spending has nearly doubled. That figure is roughly the same, too, for Russia.
But, as SIPRI’s report notes, the drop in oil prices worldwide has otherwise had huge effects on arms sales in general.
‘‘Saudi Arabia overtook Russia to become the third-largest spender, mainly due to the fall in the value of the rouble,’’ it noted. The two most dramatic dips in military expenditure were in Venezuela, where it decreased by 64 percent, and Angola, whose spending dropped by more than 40 percent. Both countries’ economies are dependent on oil exports.
Meanwhile, Asia’s militarization proceeded apace -- spending in the region rose 5.4 percent in 2015, largely as a consequence of China’s ongoing build-up and the increased wariness of neighbors, such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
‘‘Military spending in 2015 presents contrasting trends,’’ said Sam Perlo-Freeman, head of SIPRI’s military expenditure project, in a statement. ‘‘On the one hand, spending trends reflect the escalating conflict and tension in many parts of the world; on the other hand, they show a clear break from the oil-fueled surge in military spending of the past decade. This volatile economic and political situation creates an uncertain picture for the years to come.’’
In other words, no end to the wars.
And who benefits?
--more--"
I gue$$ we know who is offering them on Facebook then.
Meanwhile, they want to disarm the Cradle of Liberty itself by silencing the shot heard 'round the world while caning you into politically-correct submission.
UPDATE:
"Raytheon Co. chief executive Thomas Kennedy (left) received $20.4
million in total compensation last year, a 49 percent jump from 2014.
The head of the Waltham-based defense contracting giant took home $1.2
million in salary and $8.1 million in stock awards, according to an
annual proxy filing with securities regulators. He also received a
bigger cash bonus, at $3 million. The largest bump in Kennedy’s pay was
in the value of his pension and retirement plans, which nearly tripled,
to $7.6 million. Kennedy also received $406,917 in perks, including
personal use of Raytheon aircraft. In addition, he was provided a car
allowance, driving services, financial planning services, home security,
and had expenses covered related to his spouse’s attendance at business
events at the company’s request. The increase in Kennedy’s pay followed
a year in which the company’s net sales rose 2 percent, to $23.2
billion and earnings per share from continuing operations declined 3 percent, to $6.75."
That's a HIT!
