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Chemring [UK] |
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World ranking: outside the top 100 Chemring Group plc, 1650 Parkway, Whitely, Fareham, Hampshire PO15 7AH BACKGROUND Chemring Group dates back to 1905 with the incorporation of the British, Foreign and Colonial Automatic Light Controlling Company Ltd. In 1986 Chemring acquired Salisbury-based Pains Wessex Ltd and the Group now has operations in the UK, US and Australia. Chemring's military business includes countermeasures, made by Chemring Countermeasures in the UK, Kilgore and Alloy Services in the US, and Pains Wessex Australia; and military pyrotechnics, made by PW Defence in the UK and Pains Wessex Australia. 44% of sales are to the UK, 17% to the US, 12% to Europe and 27% to the rest of the world.4 Countermeasures In 2002, nearly half of Chemring's turnover was from countermeasures 5 - expendable decoys for air, land and sea. It claims that it is the largest supplier of infra-red and radio frequency passive expendable decoys worldwide, 6 with sales to the Pentagon forming an important source of revenue. Alloy Services, in conjunction with Raytheon, is involved with the Comet pre-emptive decoy which has been demonstrated on the A-10 'Tankbuster' and Lockheed Martin's C130 transport aircraft. Kilgore has commenced production of Lockheed Martin's F/A-22 countermeasure decoy. 7 Military Pyrotechnics PW Defence, based in Derby, evolved from the merger of the military division of Pains Wessex Ltd, Haley & Weller Ltd and Schermuly Ltd, all of which are subsidiaries of Chemring. 8 PW Defence's military pyrotechnics include flares, smoke flares, rockets, smoke grenades and incendiary grenades. 9 In 2002, military pyrotechnics accounted for 19% of Chemring's turnover.10 On June 5th 2003 the MoD signed a 'Partnering Agreement' with PW Defence covering the procurement and through-life management of a range of pyrotechnics. 11 PW Defence also supplies the canopy cutting charges for the UK's Hawk, Harrier, Jaguar and Tornado aircraft.12 Landmine allegations: In May 2002 the BBC reported that, the previous month, a BBC journalist posing as a member of a security firm in London had been offered five hundred illegal anti-personnel landmines by PW Defence's regional marketing manager.13 According to Landmine Action, the weapon offered was a 'high explosive fragmentation grenade fitted with a trip-wire... therefore it is an anti-personnel mine and banned under the Landmines Act 1998.'14 In response, Chemring stated that the fragmentation grenade combined with the trip-wire mechanism had not been sold since April 1997 and that it had removed the product from its PW Defence cata-logue in 1999.15However the trip-wire mechanism and the grenade were listed as 'in production' in the 2001-2002 edition of Jane's Infantry Weapons. Landmine Action states that, 'at the very least PW Defence have been marketing anti-personnel landmines'. 16 Zimbabwe: In November 2001, following a police gas attack on University of Harare halls of residence, Amnesty International examined canisters left lying at the scene. They claimed that one canister, date-stamped June 1999, showed 'markings that appear to be identical to those of Pains Wessex'. 17 The company denied making the tear gas in question or selling it to Zimbabwe.
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References |
1 Chemring Group plc, Annual Report, 2002 |
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