St Athan scheme from another point of view

Defence Training Review Rationalisation Programme
By Aquilavic(Aquilavic)
The scheme involves the construction of a new £14billion state-of-the-art Training Academy at St Athan in South Wales which will provide 618 courses for 6000 students. The MoD hopes that construction will begin next year with the first ...
Aquila Victrix - http://aquilavictrix.blogspot.com/

Another point of view have we heard of Holdfast ...Holdfast
is another consortium created to deliver specific services to the RSME through the RSME PPP Project

Defence Training Review Rationalisation Programme

Some years ago the Ministry of Defence initiated its Defence Training Review. The key element of this is the Rationalisation Programme which aims to introduce modern training methods and technology and to concentrate training into a handful of campus-style National Centres of Excellence. The MoD believes that this rationalisation and modernisation will provide the flexibility it needs to match training to the specialist defence requirements of the 21st century as well as releasing more military personnel for the frontline. The approach will also focus on developing an integrated training environment which amalgamates delivery across all three services and across both military and civilian personnel.
In line with the government's general approach to public funding, the DTR Rationalisation Programme is structured within a 25 year multi-billion pound Public-Private Partnership and has been split into two contractual packages:

• Package 1: Aeronautical Engineering (AE), Electro-Mechanical Engineering (EM) and Communications and Information Systems (CIS)

• Package 2: Logistics and Personnel Administration (L&PA), MOD Police and Guarding (MDPG) and Security, Languages, Intelligence and Photography (SLIP)
  

The Government's preferred supplier for Package 1 is the Metrix consortium, led by the recently privatised defence contractor Qinetiq and property developer Land Securities Trillion. The scheme involves the construction of a new £14billion state-of-the-art Training Academy at St Athan in South Wales which will provide 618 courses for 6,000 students. The MoD hopes that construction will begin next year with the first phase of tri-Service training beginning in 2013.

The MoD is considering the options for Package 2. Having removed the 'Provisional Preferred Bidder' status from Metrix, the situation is more open with both Metrix and Holdfast consortia in the bidding.

The Defence Minister Mr Ainsworth said:"The Government is committed to giving our Armed Forces the best training available so they continue to perform to the highest standards and are equipped to deal with any challenges they will face. The delivery of new tri-Service training centres under the Defence Training Review will ensure we give our personnel the best living and learning environment we can offer."

Link> MoD: Defence Training Review Report
Link> MoD: Defence Training Project on track
Link> MoD: Tri-Service training hub on the way for engineering and communications specialists

St athan Blatent Jobs Lies

Dispute update: DTR activists meet MEP

http://www.pcs.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=915899

9 Jan 2008

Following the lessons learned from the Make Your Vote Count campaign and recognition of the importance of getting our messages heard by politicians, activists from the MoD instructional officers committee met MEP Jill Evans to discuss ongoing concerns over the defence training review.

As well as being an MEP, Jill is also vice chair of Plaid Cymru so this was an important first for the instructional officers. Representing PCS at the meeting were negotiations officer Paul Bemrose, Roy Weston, chair of the St Athans branch, and H O'Harney, branch secretary at Cosford.

H said: “The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the blatant distortion being expressed by a number of Welsh MPs as to the number of new jobs being created in south Wales as part of this multi billion pounds private finance deal.”

During the two-hour meeting activists explained that the thousands of new high skill jobs promised by Welsh MPs were a fallacy because existing civil servants were already employed in them. This means that only low paid and low skilled jobs would be on offer.

As part of the programme, some 1,100 civil servants have been identified as being likely to be transferred across to a private consortium called Metrix. Yet the Welsh Assembly had frequently gone on record as stating that somewhere in the region of 6,000 new jobs were being created.

The involvement of companies whose motives are to generate profits for shareholders was also discussed, as was the issue of privatisation. Mrs Evans pointed out that Plaid Cymru had concerns about the DTR programme but wanted an honest and open debate about the key issues.

It was agreed that we would maintain contact and a meeting be arranged between Plaid Cymru MPs and PCS reps to discuss the issues raised in more detail.

H added: “Campaigning now needs to be multi-faceted. Yes it is important to get members and the public on your side but equally important is getting your message heard by all the political parties who are involved.

“They are usually keen to meet you since many of them will have only heard one side of the story from the department or management. We expect to get many more such meetings in the months ahead."

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For more about the campaign visit the instructional officers website, and sign up to the No to St Athan Military Academy group on the social networking website facebook

DTR = Defence Traing Review

Weapons firms role in St Athan Academy Comdemned

Weapons firm’s role in St Athan academy condemned ic Wales, United Kingdom - CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the Assembly Government for backing a huge military training project, despite the involvement of a weapons company previously ...
anne
the whole story
Nov 9 2007 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail

CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the Assembly Government for backing a huge military training project, despite the involvement of a weapons company previously linked to cluster bombs.
The St Athan Defence Academy is due to create 5,000 jobs in the Vale of Glamorgan by 2013.
But an anti-military group called the Cluster Munition Coalition says that one of the major companies involved in the academy, Raytheon, has been involved in manufacturing devices that carry cluster munitions.

Raytheon, a leading American arms firm, insists it no longer produces weapons capable of carrying cluster bombs. But campaigners say they remain concerned.
Anne Greagsby, co-ordinator of the campaign to stop the St Athan academy from being built, said, “In 2005 a European Parliament resolution was introduced to ban investments in companies, such as Raytheon, that have produced cluster munitions. In response to this, Norway and Belgium have already endorsed this call. Liverpool City Council has also recently adopted a similar position.
“Yet the Welsh government has ignored all of these concerns, and instead launched a high profile development project with Raytheon.
“Raytheon is a central member of the Metrix Consortium that was awarded the St Athan Defence Training Academy contract in January 2007. The St Athan Defence Academy has been supported by all of the main political parties in Wales and sold to the public on the basis of alleged benefits to the economy.
“The involvement in the project of the world’s largest arms companies has so far not received any attention.”
Ms Greagsby added, “Given the evident public concern over cluster bombs and the arms trade more generally, I am sure that most people would be shocked to hear that the Assembly has laid a welcome mat for such companies, especially after other governments have turned their backs on them.”

In 2005, the Advisory Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund excluded Raytheon from the fund’s investment portfolio, along with other manufacturers associated with cluster munitions. In 2007, Belgium passed a law banning all investments in any companies still producing cluster munitions.
Raytheon is still producing the AGM154 Joint Standoff Weapon, which according to its website,“is a family of low-cost, highly lethal weapons that can engage a wide spectrum of targets – from soft targets to hardened point targets – over a range of threat environments by using highly integrated Global Positioning System and Inertial Measurement System guidance.”

Ms Greagsby said, “It has been reported that a Raytheon device hit the Shu’ale market in Baghdad in 2003, killing at least 62 civilians, and that a Raytheon device hit Qana in Lebanon in 2006, killing at least 28 civilians, including 16 children.”

Veteran former Labour MP Tony Benn has signed a petition opposing plans to build the £14bn defence training academy at RAF St Athan.
The project has also been criticised by CND Cymru.

A spokesman for Raytheon said, “Raytheon does not manufacture cluster bombs or any associated delivery vehicles. Any assertion to the contrary is based on dated information that is no longer valid or correct.
“To clarify, Raytheon has never manufactured cluster bombs, but in the past we have been associated with their manufacture because of our contract to produce a missile that can carry different types of munition payloads, determined by the customer. One configuration allowed it to carry cluster bomb payloads, which were not produced by Raytheon.
“But in any case, Raytheon has completed its contracted production run for this particular missile, and we have no plans to resume production. Furthermore, Raytheon has no other products in development that are designed to dispense cluster submunitions.”

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said, “The development at St Athan is vital if our armed forces are to have the best possible training to equip them to deal with any threat to the safety and security of this country and its people.
“The training activities at St Athan are related to engineering and IT skills, which are also useful in civilian life as well.
“Under the Metrix consortium’s proposals, the army, navy and air force will get better training to protect the UK from enemies, both now and in the future.
“Raytheon is one of the partners in the consortium. They have made it clear to the Welsh Assembly Government that they do not manufacture cluster bombs or any missiles capable of delivering the weapons, and they have no plans to do so in future Any claim to the contrary is wrong and based on old information.
“The UK government is committed to banning the production, stockpiling and use of cluster bombs, and has signed a joint declaration with 45 other countries to achieve this aim.”

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The JSOW family uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying a variety of payloads and handling multiple munitions. Its long standoff range of up to 70 nautical miles allows delivery from well outside the lethal range of most enemy air defenses. The AGM-154A (also called JSOW-A) variant dispenses BLU-97 combined-effect bomblets for use against soft and area targets. It is produced for use on the F/A-18, F-16, F-15E, B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft. The AGM-154C (JSOW-C) is currently being produced for Navy F/A-18s and has been selected by Poland for use on its F-16s. The Navy/Raytheon team is developing a Block II configuration of the JSOW weapon system that provides significant cost reductions to all J
http://investor.raytheon.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=84193&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=617664&highlight=

St Athan military academy meeting

Stop the St Athan Military AcademyNext Meeting at Temple of Peace / Y Deml Heddwch2pm Saturday October 6thCathays Park / Parc CathaysCardiff / CaerdyddCF10 3AP
http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/
For more information see also
http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/
http://www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/

"St Athan Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4156619706."