TheArmsTrade– Making a Killing​

The biggest arms manufacturing companies in the world, include Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies (RTX), NorthropGrumman Corp, Boeing, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Leonardo, Airbus, Elbit, NORINCO. In 2022, the estimated global military expenditure was $2,24 trillion and now with vast supplies to Ukraine and Israel we can estimate this has grown to an even bigger figure. As the Special AKA song ‘War Crimes’ said: ‘The numbers are different, the crime is still the same’. How to understand the scale and impact of this industry, the level of corruption and secrecy and Ireland’s involvement? This article aims to open up some of these issues, so we can begin to understand and oppose it.

When the Derry Anti War Coalition occupied U.S. arms manufacturers Raytheon’s offices in Derry in 2006 it was in response to missile attacks in Lebanon and the killing of civilians in Qana, especially. They threw computers out the window and nine arrests were made, leading to the trial and ultimately the acquittal of the Raytheon Nine.

Raytheon (RTX)

Raytheon had been brought to Derry under the so–called ‘peace dividend’ that followed the Good Friday Agreement and at the time were one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers, with sales of $20 billion and 73,000 employees worldwide. Eamonn McCann, one of the Raytheon Nine, wrote a pamphlet on the action in 2007 with the campaign to get rid of Raytheon Continuing. By 2010, Raytheon had left Derry, weary of the protests but denying that their leaving had anything to do with this attention. Their departure was considered a great victory for anti-war activism.

If we then fast forward to 2024, we find that Raytheon is now RTX and is the second largest producer of global missiles. They Are currently supplying the Israeli Air Force with guided air-to-surface missiles for its F16 fighter jets, as well as cluster bombs and bunker bombs which have been used in Gaza with terrible effects on people and infrastructure. Their subsidiary Pratt &Whitney manufacture engines for F-15 and F-16 fighter jets and they are involved in a joint venture with Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer, Rafael, who make interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome Defence System which has been supported by U.S recent weapons supplies to Israel.

Raytheon RTX witnessed a significantly high value of executive sales of personal shares during the first quarter of 2024 with $3.45 million worth of sales made by executives, compared to just $357k for the whole of 2023.

Collins Aerospace

Established in Cork in 2010 Collins Aerospace is a subsidiary ofRTX and the group received more than

$7.5 million from its parent company in 2022. As of now it has about 100 employees in Cork. The company says it is involved in research and development on behalf of RTX, but whatever this means there are good reasons to be concerned and protests have been taking place at the Cork offices, calling on them to make public precisely what they are manufacturing. Their website talks about ‘redefining aerospace’ and one of the areas of capability is ‘connected battlespace’, where they talk about ‘maintaining advantage in the rapidly evolving threat environment’.

This is classic arms trade speak and there is little doubt that they are real players. Even if they are also involved in some civilian production, as they previously claimed in Derry before it was proved otherwise, they are part of a huge global arms company.So of course, Raytheon did not just go away and Ireland is certainly complicit and involved in the global arms industry.

European Defence Agency

As Ireland is a relatively new player, it is keen to avail of the incentives on offer through the EU. The European Defence Agency (EDA), founded in 2002 is one mechanism that allows the arms lobby into the heart of its institutions and affords Ireland access to some of the war bounty. The global arms trade is shrouded in national-security-imposed secrecy and is operated by a small elite of politicians, corporate executives, military and intelligence leaders and various ‘enablers’. These operate with virtual impunity while the trade undermines democracy, the rule of law and good governance, making billions for the lobbyists and companies involved. 

Global military spending reached a high of $2,440 billion in 2023 and the war in Ukraine and assault on Gaza have seen this rise again. Arms sales fuel the dynamics of conflict and this business is the showpiece of unregulated global capitalism with secrecy and corruption at its very core. Andrew Feinstein, a researcher and campaigner on arms and militarism, estimates that the arms trade makes up 40% of all global corruption. As arms lobbyists make campaign contributions to politicians, and these benefit directly from arms sales, corruption to a large extent drives the business.

There are real issues of legality and morality that make the trade in death, a deeply sinister threat to all humanity and to the planet’s survival. Calls for a transparent, ethical, and legally compliant international arms trade appear unrealistic and are at best naïve, as the stakes are so high and the trade is so embedded in the very mechanics of capitalism.

Of course, we do need stringent oversight, transparency, and adherence to international legal standards in arms exports, but realistically those who make the rules seem unlikely to give up their interest in the face of moral arguments. As we call for a re-evaluation of military support for Israel, do we really understand how deeply ingrained the business of arms is in our political and corporate structures and institutions?

Embedded in Capitalism

The militarist mindset that underpins the arms trade is complexand in need of research and analysis. For certain, capitalism requires violence if it is to function; and the sources of violence range from government military expenditure, surveillance and borders to private property regimes, imperialist laws and labour exploitation. Frontex, the EU border agency has many characteristics of an army, and policing across the world has become increasingly militarised. The spectacle of militarisedU.S. police forces clearing college campuses of the tented Gazaprotesters recently is truly horrific. NATO countries spending on weapons may be as much as 75% of the global total and we are constantly fed the lie that this is necessary for peace and security.

This military mindset justifies insane spending on arms and is propped up by a number of myths that are constantly propagated.Chief among these is the old adage ‘if you want peace prepare for war’ or that higher defence spending somehow equals increased security. There is considerable evidence to suggest that the opposite is actually true and that weapons are also likely to be used against the very people they are supposed to defend.

As arms spending is over-sourced, spending in other vital areas such as health, education, climate change, housing and diplomacy is compromised and there is a real need to rethink the whole idea of security so that the money is moved to counter the real threats to human security. Weapons of war and preparation for war hugely affect climate impacts and in turn these effects are likely to increase the prospect of global conflict leading to further spending on arms. 

Subsidising War

Alternatives to war require investment, but this is not the kind of spending that enriches the ‘merchants of death’, so it is not seriously funded and can be written off as ineffective by those who have vested interests in arms sales. Arms lobbying within the EU, for example, has reached a level where subsidies are actually being paid to benefit the purchase of more arms and we have seen this in relation to Ukraine. German arms producers have recently seen huge benefits through this trade and the Leopard 2 tanks that were sourced from Germany to supply Ukraine last year cost in the region of $12 million each.

There is a much-quoted statement from former U.S. President Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation in 1961. He warned his country ‘to guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial-complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist’. As a former Supreme Allied Commander, this warning carried some weight. 

Military-Industrial Complex

This military-industrial-complex, or MIC, is a highly organised mechanism of power and commercial interests which allows massive profits to be made and a constant ‘revolving door, between military, lobbyists and arms company executives. Thisallows mutual support structures to feed this vast enterprise that is at the very heart of capitalist /government war machine economics. The Danish analyst and activist Jan Oberg argues that it would be more appropriate to now characterise this nexus as the military, industrial, academic, media complex (MIMAC),such is the mutual reinforcement in operation for the advantage of all these entities in modern capitalism. 

You won’t see a critical analysis of the arms trade in most media outlets or much academic scrutiny of the interests at stake here. The silence and secrecy of the interplay between these powerful forces allows the mass production and sales of weapons to reach unimagined proportions, without scrutiny or public awareness of the stakes and scale of the profits and the dangers to people and environment inherent in the process.

Scrutinising the Arms Trade

So where might we look for coverage and insights into this death trade that governments, media and academies not only do not want to scrutinise, but are actively engaged in? A recent art exhibition at the Olivier Cornet Gallery in Dublin entitled ‘What Do we want?’ was described as ‘a group show in response to the increasingly dangerous geo-political situation in the world today’ and offered some reflections that might be relevant here. 

One of the artists was Jill Gibbons from Britain. She has been visiting and sketching arms fairs in Europe and the Middle East For a number of years now. Nothing encapsulates and symbolises the trade better than these fairs with extravagant and shocking displays of weapons presented as luxury commodities, proudly offered for those with the resources to purchase. Gibbons has often dressed up as an arms trader with a suit, plastic pearls, and a fake company. When that didn’t work, she has also presented herself as a ‘war artist’ which seems to be met with some acceptance in these circles, illustrating the facade of respectability in the industry.

She has frequently attended the Defence Security Equipment International (DSEI) which takes place in London Docklands Every two years and is the world’s biggest arms fair. Its websiteslogans are ‘Powering Progress’ and ‘Defining Your Future’ which is frightening to say the least. Once inside the fair shedraws what she sees and collects complimentary gifts from the stalls. Some of these were on display in the Dublin exhibition and included stress balls in the shape of bombs and grenades, toy tanks, sweets and condoms with marketing slogans.

Exhibiting Arms

Guests at these fairs include representatives of repressive regimes and countries fighting aggressive wars as well as ‘respectable’ arms traders and local military. She reminds us that the arms trade is not illicit, but actively promoted as a legitimate business by the UK, USA and increasingly by the EU. She has highlighted some of the characteristic features of these arms fairs which she describes, in her book The Etiquette of the Arms Trade, as: 

‘String quartets playing on the back of military trucks as consumers choose their purchases; young attractive women used as ‘eye-candy’ standing in front of missiles to attract male buyers; a new range of tanks promoted with a fashion show; corporate men in suits trying out guns and weapons as if they were in combat; a macho drinking culture and crass corporate giveaways such as condoms with the slogan ‘the ultimate protection’ or sweets labelled ‘welcome to hell.’ 

Jill Gibbon’s original sketchbook which should have featured in the exhibition was refused entry to Ireland by Irish Customs on 27 March 2024 and 8 ‘gifts’ or ‘desk toys’ the artist had collected from arms fairs over the years were also refused. A week later, she attempted to send the gallery a facsimile copy of her sketchbook, but the copy didn’t make it either. The artist was notified a few days later that the facsimile had been refused too and would be ‘returned to sender’. There is no way to know what was going on here for certain, but at least she could include a digital slideshow version of her sketchbook which illustrates many of the characteristics of the fairs mentioned above.

The arms trade is shrouded in secrecy and documenting it can be difficult. However, the visual arts have an ability to both show the reality and raise many questions surrounding this vast enterprise and proves that art can make a difference and create debate. We have had tasters of arms fairs in Ireland in the last two years and there is clearly an appetite at government level to promote ‘opportunities for research and development’. The cake is a big one and Irish business is looking for its share. We all need to be more vigilant in exposing this awful industry.

Eamon Rafter is an anti-militarist, a peace educator and active with IAWM and StoP (Swords to Ploughshares). He is also involved in campaigns to defend Irish Neutrality and against far right racism.

The ‘What do we want?’ group show, runs from 7 April to 31 May 2024, at the Olivier Cornet Gallery, Dublin