Arms trade news

Bloodhound SSC is an engineering project that aims to break the 1000mph World Land Speed Record with a rocket-propelled car. Since starting in 2008, the project has been widely praised for its ambition and technology. However, an interview given by the project’s Senior Design Engineer  in April this year suggests that the project was only […]

Last Thursday, 9th of October, CEO of major arms company QinetiQ, was in Bristol speaking to students as part of UWE’s “Distinguished Address Series”. QinetiQ, 6th largest UK arms company, work mainly on military applications — weapons, guidance systems, military aircraft technology etc, branching out into surveillance & security technologies (including technologies considered for ID cards), and […]

The London Student has revealed that, in spite of ethical investment policy claims, London universities have over £7.4 million investing in arms trade company shares. We can stop this. In 2007-9 Disarm UCL ran a successful campaign to pressure the university into dropping it’s shares in Cobham PLC. Student activism is an essential part of […]

Rolls Royce are confirmed to be investing in a planned £400m ‘science and innovation’ university campus. Phase one, costing £200m, is due to be opened in three years time. The university is hopeful to attract other arms trade investors such as Airbus UK and BAE Systems. Accepting funds from the arms trade is not acceptable. […]

After a spectacular campaign, Edinburgh university have divested from Ultra Electronics – a company which makes components for drones. The Guardian reports – ‘The company, headquartered at Greenford in Middlesex, makes navigation controls for the US fleet of Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. Armed with Hellfire missiles, they are sent on covert “targeted killing” […]

With less students choosing a career in the arms trade due to ethical concerns, BAE Systems have started paying graduates for their Summer Internship program. They brag that students will ‘use [their] skills to make a real contribution’ but fail to mention what interns will be contributing to – the death of thousands of people and […]

The University of Portsmouth will provide “academic guidance” to courses that will train up to 4,200 engineering students at the new Military Technical College of Oman. In the words of the University, The Military Technological College will provide academic education and training for the Omani armed forces and Ministry of Defence engineering services Oman is […]

After an excellent campaign by Leeds University student group Let’s Disarm Leeds, students voted Yes in a referendum on whether they wanted to end their university’s links with BAE Systems, the world’s third biggest arms manufacturer. This victory mandates the Students’ Union to lobby the University to do three things in particular: to stop inviting BAE to […]

We recently reported that the Huffington Post had collected information, via a series of Freedom of Information requests, about the funding that universities receive from arms companies. Students across the UK have picked up on the story and reported it in their own student newspapers. So far, the story has been reported in: Roar! News – King’s […]