FIFE-MADE PART ‘IN YEMEN WRECKAGE’
Anger at grant for weapons company
A Saudi missile strike which killed 40 Yemeni children has been linked to a weapons firm in Scotland who were handed £185,625 of public cash.
A Sunday Mail investigation today reveals the extraordinary Scottish Government support given to the highly controversial arms firm Raytheon.
The relationship is detailed days after the highly respected defence industry bible, Jane’s, said remnants of a Raytheon guidance kit appear to have been found close to the scene of a Saudi Arabian air strike on a school bus which killed 51 people, including 40 children.
A photo taken beside the destroyed vehicle shows a child holding a piece of shrapnel from the missile.
It exactly matches photographs of a Paveway warhead posted on Raytheon’s own website.
Jane’s said the “Raytheon Paveway guidance kit for a 500lb-class MK 82 general-purpose bomb” looked likely to have been used in the strike in Yemen earlier this month.
Raytheon sell the hardware to the desert kingdom despite serious questions over their human rights record.
Both the US headquartered firm and Lockheed Martin produce Paveway missiles and there has also been a CNN report linking Lockheed Martin components to the Yemen air strike.
The attack also left 79 people seriously injured.
Footage of youngsters playing happily on the bus before the attack has emerged as well as rows of small graves in the aftermath.
The vehicle was blown up in a crowded market area in the northern province of Sadah, the stronghold of the Houthi rebel group the Saudis are fighting. One MSP has accused the Scottish Government of having “blood on their hands” while the dealings with Raytheon were also branded “classic hypocrisy”. We have obtained documents that show Raytheon have received £ 135,465 from Scottish Enterprise between 2014 and 2017. It is understood a further £ 50,160 has been awarded this year. We can also reveal senior managers of Raytheon were granted a secret meeting with a Government minister in January to lobby for further Scottish Enterprise money. Documents show the minister – who was given a new job in charge of energy, connectivity and the islands in June – insisted the trip remain “private”.
Emails released through Freedom oof Information show Paul Wheelhouse insisted no “comms (communications) activity” or photographs accompanied hhis visit to the firm’s Glenrothes plant, where guidance systems for their Paveway smart bombs are made.
Our revelations about the relationship between the Scottish Government and Raytheon appear to contradict the SNP’s strong stance at Westminster on weapon sales to Saudi Arabia.
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