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Creating Peace at Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon on Nagasaki Day

On August 9, 2006, Nagasaki Day, 11 civilian weapons inspectors drove up Empire Grade Road and marched the last 1/2 mile to the gates of Lockheed Martin where the public road ends. The Santa Cruz Weapons Inspection Team (SCWIT) led the march marking the annihilation and devastation delivered to the people, animals and plants of Nagasaki, Japan, targeted on August 9th, 1945, by nuclear bombs far less powerful than the ones Lockheed Martin presently manufactures. The nonviolent action included the delivery of a letter from the people of Santa Cruz to Tom and Chip of Lockheed Martin suggesting they produce peaceful technologies instead of weapons like the Trident II (D5), Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM) armed with nuclear warheads. Paper flowers with messages to Lockheed were attached to the fence, a "peace bush" was planted and anti-nuclear songs were sung outside the gates of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons contractor.

Protest at Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon

From the first nuclear bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan in 1945 to the deadly "depleted" uranium it deployed in both Iraq wars, to the earth-penetrating "bunker busters" it projects detonating in Iran, the US has forged a multibillion dollar business out of nuclear weapons technology. The largest and most profitable designer, manufacturer, and merchant of those weapons is Lockheed Martin, which operates a 4,400 acre facility at the end of Empire Grade in Santa Cruz. The Bonny Doon-based Lockheed Martin facility manufactures and tests Contained Detonating Fuses (CDFs) for the deadliest weapon ever made - the Trident II D5 nuclear submarine missile.

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Why Local Activists are Turning their Attention to Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon

A newly-formed coalition in Santa Cruz is turning its attention to Lockheed Martin, which has a 4000 acre facility in Bonny Doon. Lockheed Martin (L-M) is the world's largest weapons contractor. It invents and develops high-tech war-fighting weapons, markets them to the Pentagon and to Congress, and sells them around the world on the open market. It pollutes the earth, both in the production of weapons and in their use in war. It has been convicted and fined for criminal violations of US law. And yet it has much more say about our government's policies than do ordinary citizens. Lockheed Martin buys access to our government representatives, largely with money it has made from selling weapons to our government, weapons that are both subsidized and paid for with our tax dollars. Profiteering from War.

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Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon Says No to Water Testing

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Community Concerned about Lockheed Martin (CCALM, pronounced "calm") is a group of Central California Coast residents who have joined together to obtain information about the risks and hazards posed by the Lockheed Martin weapons facility, which occupies a 4,400 acre site at the end of Empire Grade Road in Bonny Doon, in Santa Cruz County.

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Lockheed Corporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lockheed Corporation (originally Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company) was an American aerospace company originally founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta in 1995 to form Lockheed Martin.

Origins

The Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company was established in 1912 by the brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughead. This company was renamed the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company and located in Santa Barbara, California.

In 1926, following the failure of Loughead, Allan Loughead formed the Lockheed Aircraft Company (the spelling was changed to match its phonetic pronunciation) in Hollywood, California. In 1929 Lockheed sold out to Detroit Aircraft.

The Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of investors headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross bought the company out of receivership in 1932. The syndicate bought the company for a mere $40,000. Ironically, Allan Loughead himself had planned to bid for his own company, but had raised "only" $50,000, which he felt was too small a sum for a serious bid.

In 1934, Robert E. Gross was named chairman of the new company, the Lockheed Corporation, which was headquartered at the airport in Burbank, California. The company remained there for many years before moving to Calabasas, California.

The first successful construction that was built in any number (141 aircraft) was the Vega first built in 1927, best known for its several first- and record-setting flights by, among others, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and George Hubert Wilkins.

In the 1930s, Lockheed spent $139,400 to develop the L-10 Electra, a small twin-engine transport. The company sold 40 in the first year of production. Amelia Earheart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, flew this plane on their failed attempt to circumnavigate the world in 1937. The Electra also formed the basis for the Hudson bomber, which was supplied to both the British Royal Air Force and the United States military before and during World War II. Its primary role was submarine hunting.

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Lockheed Martin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, a community in Montgomery County, Maryland, and employs 135,000 people worldwide. Robert J. Stevens is the current Chairman, President, and CEO.

Lockheed Martin is the world's largest defense contractor (by defense revenue).[1] As of 2005, 95% of Lockheed Martin's revenues came from the U.S. Department of Defense, other U.S. federal government agencies, and foreign military customers.

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Lockheed Martin Space Systems
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lockheed Martin Space Systems is one of the 5 major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. From a rich history of major companies Lockheed Martin has brought them together to offer design, integration, and production of:

* space launch vehicles
* satellites for commercial and military space
* and missile offense/defense systems

History

RCA Astro Electronics, a division of RCA was formed in the late 1950s and went on to become one of the leading manufacturers of satellites and related systems. RCA Astro Electronics was based in East Windsor, New Jersey. When General Electric purchased RCA in 1986 Astro Electronics was renamed GE Astro Space. This was sold to Martin Marietta in 1993 and became part of Lockheed Martin in 1995 following that company's merger with the Lockheed Corporation.

In 1995 Lockheed Martin announced the closure of the New Jersey facility and the relocation of operations to Sunnyvale, California. The New Jersey facility finished the orders it had and closed in 1998. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is now based in Denver, but still does considerable operations from Sunnyvale. Also located near Sunnyvale is the ATC (Advanced Technology Center), which is located in Palo Alto.

The Sunnyvale facility employs over 8,000 in over 40 buildings.

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Trident missile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Trident missile, named after the trident, is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from submarines (SSBNs), making it a SLBM.

The Trident was built in two variants: the I (C4) UGM-96A and II (D5) UGM-133A. The C4 and D5 designations put the missiles within the "family" that started in 1960 with Polaris (A1, A2 and A3) and continued with the 1971 Poseidon (C3).

Both Trident versions are three-stage, solid-propellant, inertially guided missiles whose range is increased by an aerospike, a telescoping outward extension that halves frontal drag.

The Trident is carried by fourteen active US navy Ohio class submarines and, with British warheads, four Royal Navy Vanguard class submarines.

The launch from the submarine occurs below the ocean surface. The missiles are ejected from their tubes by gas pressure created by a "gas generator", a solid-fuel rocket motor attached to the bottom of the missile tube which heats a pool of water creating steam. After the missile leaves the tube and rises through the water over the submarine, the first stage motor ignites, the aerospike extends, and the boost stage begins. Ideally, the missile is "sheathed" in gas bubbles for its entire time in the water, so liquid never touches its fuselage. Within about two minutes, after the third stage motor fires, the missile is traveling faster than 20,000 ft/s (6,000 m/s).

Trident I (C4) was deployed in 1979 and phased out in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trident II (D5) was deployed in 1990, and was planned to be in service for the thirty year life of the submarines, until 2027. However, a decision was taken in 2002 to extend the life of the submarines and the D5 missiles to forty-five years. This requires a D5 Life Extension (D5LE) Program, which is currently ongoing. The main aim is to replace obsolete components at minimal cost, while maintaining the demonstrated performance of the existing missiles. In 2006, The UK Government said that it would maintain the UK's independent nuclear deterrent, although it still had to decide exactly how. It is expected to join in fully with the D5LE program for the missiles and have its own program for extending the Vanguard class submarines' lives and maintaining the UK's own warheads.

Trident II (D5) UGM-133A

The second variant of the Trident is more sophisticated and can carry a heavier payload. It is accurate enough to be a first strike weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. The Trident II was the original missile on the British Vanguard and later Ohio SSBNs.

Conventional Trident

The Pentagon developed the Conventional Trident Modification program in 2006 to diversify its strategic options. The US $503 million program would have converted existing Trident II missiles (presumably those scheduled for decommissioning of their warheads) into conventional weapons. It offered the promise of accurate conventional strikes with little warning and flight time. The primary drawback would have been establishing sufficient warning systems so that other nuclear countries would not mistake it for a nuclear launch.

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Trident II D-5 Fleet Ballistic Missile

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SANTA CRUZ: Dismantling the Bomb and Constructing Peace
Commemorating the Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, August 6 and 9, 1945

BAY AREA: Protests Mark 61st Anniversaries of Atomic Bombings
International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples Protest at Bechtel HQ

GLOBAL: The 61st Hiroshima Day

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Crossposted at Indybay.org.

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