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US-supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukrainian troops. Arms manufacturers have been exposed to exploiting Ukraine’s potential conflict with Russia to profit. Photo/Atlantic Council
As Washington spends more and more cash on military equipment being shipped to Ukraine, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin told investors this week that an escalation in the region bodes well for their profits. This is the transcript released by the investment site The Motley Fool and quoted Russia Today, Saturday (29/1/2022).
“We just have to look at last week where we saw drone attacks in the UAE [Uni Emirat Arab], which had attacked some of their other facilities. And of course, tensions in Eastern Europe, tensions in the South China Sea, all of that is putting pressure on some defense spending there. So I fully expect we’ll see some benefit from it,” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes told earnings call January 25, 2022.
Also read: 9 Countries That Can Support Russia in a War with NATO
On the same day, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet also advised investors that the possibility of further American involvement in Eastern Europe would be good for business.
“If you look at the growing level of threat and the approach taken by some countries, including North Korea, Iran and through some of its proxies in Yemen and elsewhere, and especially Russia today, and China, there is a new major power competition that includes national defense and threats against him, “he said.
“The history of the United States is, as that environment evolves, we don’t sit back and just watch it happen. So I can’t speak to numbers, but I think, and I’m personally concerned that the threat is growing, and we have to be able to deal with it,” he said. Taiclet.
In earnings call January 26, Boeing CFO Brian West did not reference Ukraine and Russia directly, but acknowledged that strong bipartisan support for military spending in Washington had ensured that the company saw steady demand.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the arms industry has spent $2.5 billion lobbying governments over the past two decades, employing an average of more than 700 lobbyists per year.
Pentagon spending has exceeded $14 trillion since the start of the war in Afghanistan, and a third to half of that money has gone to military contractors.
In the 1990s, arms manufacturers spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying for the expansion of NATO, the US-led military bloc, into Eastern Europe, after the industry shrank following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
Tensions around Ukraine have been simmering for months, with Western leaders claiming they fear Russia is planning an imminent invasion of its neighbour, and pointing to reports that more than 100,000 Russian troops have gathered near the border.
Moscow has denied it has any aggressive intentions, and has called for a security agreement that would bar NATO from expanding into Ukraine or Georgia, a deal Washington says is unlikely.
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