A new British Imperialist Navy flagship was launched for service yesterday, supplied with state of the art missiles manufactured by Thales Air Defence in Belfast. The war industry is still a major employer in the Occupied 6 Counties, and a key strategic interest for Britain.
Thales has recently received a contract of £98.4 million to produce missiles. British Imperialist Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin stated in March this year that “The £98.4m investment is the second major contract awarded to Northern Ireland’s defence industry in less than three months highlighting Northern Ireland’s important contribution to the delivery of our critical defence capabilities.”
Reportedly, revenue for the Belfast operation has trebled in the past 6-7 years and the number employees has increased by 150. These employees are highly skilled and very well paid, in the top 10% of employees in the Occupied 6 Counties. While the labour aristocracy of protestant workers in the 6 counties has been eroded, it still very much exists.
Despite claiming to be for “defence”, Thales also produces offensive missiles that are used as part of Britain’s wars of conquest in the Middle East. It is these same missiles that are raining down death on Yemen as part of the British and American backed Saudi war against the Yemeni people.
Companies like Thales, Harland and Wolff, Spirit AeroSystems based in Belfast are a vital part of the British war machine. They have blood on their hands. No weapons of imperialist war should be produced on Irish soil.
The presence of these key, growing strategic facilities for arming British imperialism demonstrates that Britain has no intention of leaving Ireland any time soon. Only a popular campaign mobilising all the people of Ireland can remove their presence.
Britain Out of Ireland Now!
End the Occupation!