Afrasianet - American arms manufacturers are reaping huge profits from the thousands of missiles, drones and other weapons being sent to Ukraine, and are also preparing to make big profits in the long term by supplying weapons to countries seeking to strengthen their defenses against Russia. The United States has used its stockpiles to supply Ukraine with shoulder-fired Stinger and Javelin missiles.
The price of these weapons was paid to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies a while ago. But the shortfall in US military stocks will have to be filled, after part of it has been allocated to Kiev.
The Pentagon plans to use the $3.5 billion allocated for this purpose in a spending law passed in mid-March. The Javelin anti-tank missile is manufactured on the basis of a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Production of the latter's "Stinger" anti-aircraft missile was halted until the Pentagon requested a new batch of $340 million last summer.
The companies that control the accession of presidents to power or their removal from it do not care where these weapons end up, even if they reach terrorist hands, and this is what happens when we talk about the fame of Ukrainian mafias in the arms trade.
“If 1,000 Stingers and 1,000 Javelins were shipped to Eastern Europe every month for use next year, which is not out of the question given the current pace, we think that would equate to 1-2 billion,” says Colin Scarola, of CFRI Investment Research. dollars in revenue for program manufacturers.
So, the arms-manufacturing companies will not be satisfied with what is sent to Ukraine, but are ready to create new areas in which wars will ignite, especially in Eastern Europe, as evidenced by this statement, which heralds new wars in the coming year.
When last publishing their quarterly results in late January, the CEOs of some arms manufacturers hinted that the world would be in their favour. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes stated that the rising level of tension in Eastern Europe would lead to increased sales internationally.
His Lockheed Martin counterpart James Ticklet reported that he had observed "a new competition among the great powers" that would lead to more US military spending. "The war in Ukraine is reshaping the geopolitical order, in a way not seen in 30 years," said Burkett Howe of Morningstar, a financial services firm.
He explained, "People are beginning to realize that the world is no longer safe to a large extent, and therefore there will be a need to increase investment in defense products, which will be in the interest of contractors."
For Western governments, as has been the case for years in Asia, "there will be much less desire to cut" military spending, said Eric Higginbotham, a researcher at the MIT Center for International Studies. In the United States, President Joe Biden has proposed a four percent increase in the Pentagon's budget.
Inflation is rising in the US, but Biden has not at least suggested spending cuts. A study issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute revealed that during the period 2017-2021, the global arms trade declined by 4.6 percent from the previous five years, but increased by 19 percent in the European continent.
Europe is the new hot spot," said Simon Wezemann, who has contributed to the annual report for more than three decades.
The researcher explained, "We will increase our military spending significantly. We need large quantities of new weapons, and a large part of them will come from imports," especially imports within Europe and from the United States.
Several European countries, including Germany, announced plans for huge military investments.
As mercenaries from around the world join the war in Ukraine, wanting to fight alongside the Ukrainians at the invitation of the West, fears are rising that the most criminal and extremist groups in the world will be more attracted to a nuclear country, in light of a hysterical Western propaganda that encourages people to turn to Ukrainian lands in what looks like an invitation To participate in a holy war under different slogans and justifications.
According to the monitoring of risk management in the center (csrgulf), concern is looming about the repercussions of the entry of extremist groups and criminal organizations to Ukraine and the possibilities of the nuclear trafficking mafia infiltrating and seizing nuclear and radiological technologies from Ukrainian nuclear facilities with the intention of smuggling and selling them on the black market as an expected step.
Some organizations are not excluded They are required to invest in the war and chaos erupting and achieve maximum material benefits in a region that ranks among the most European regions where nuclear energy is widely used. War merchants are very active in such circumstances in order to make significant gains.
Despite the assurances of the Russians and the announcement of their communication with the International Atomic Energy Agency about securing the nuclear facilities from any damage or penetration, there remain worrying concerns about the possibility of some nuclear materials and data being stolen during a war.
Considering that nuclear materials are considered the most valuable in the international market, fears arise about the existence of potential risks about the existence of criminal organizations seeking to obtain such dangerous materials by stealing them in order to sell them, engaging in security confusion and conditions of war, not securing borders and benefiting from the flow of refugees, which facilitates smuggling such as These techniques and dangerous secrets.
For years, Ukraine has been considered the most popular destination in the world for nuclear trafficking gangs to trade in dangerous nuclear materials. It is noteworthy that Ukraine is among the most European countries hosting the largest nuclear plants with uses of electrical energy.
Fears are growing about the possibility of some criminal organizations penetrating these facilities and stealing data or nuclear materials and offering to sell them on the black market, which raises fears of extremists or countries accessing these technologies that may help develop weapons of mass destruction.
According to data from the Australian Defense Science and Technology Group (DSTO), smuggling of low-enriched uranium has been intercepted on more than one occasion over the past decade in the Black Sea region and returned to its original source of origin in Ukraine.
Over the past years, low-enriched uranium has been confiscated in Turkey, Ukraine, Romania and Georgia, with Ukraine being the potential country of origin. Smuggling patterns indicate that nuclear materials were transported to Turkey as a temporary destination for uranium smuggled from the former republics of the Soviet Union.
These incidents confirm that criminals used the countries of the Black Sea region as smuggling corridors. During the past two decades, Ukraine recorded the second largest number of nuclear smuggling incidents in Europe, while Turkey ranked third, followed by Georgia and Romania.
The Ukrainian authorities, for example, recorded about 112 theft of radioactive sources and 95 other cases of smuggling between 1989-2012 [5].
Western governments know that their weapons sent to Ukraine can be sold to terrorists. Western government studies have repeatedly concluded that terrorist groups in the world and in the Middle East may search for a nuclear technical capability that may pose a direct threat to international national security.
More specifically, the fact that al-Qaeda terrorist organization or ISIS has attempted to acquire nuclear materials indicates fears of uncontrolled nuclear proliferation through theft and smuggling.