TRW is one of the Big Four weapons manufacturers, along with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon. These four companies received one out of every four dollars allocated by the Pentagon. In missile defense, their monopoly is even more complete; these four companies received 60-70% of all the contracts doled out by the Pentagon.

Missile Defense:

The idea of a Missile Defense shield has been around since the Reagan administration. In its latest incarnation-- National Missile Defense (NMD)-- the program has been scaled back from Reagan's vision of a multi-tiered defense that could fend off thousands of Soviet nuclear delivery vehicles to the seemingly more realistic goal of defending all 50 states from an accidental missile launch from Russia or China, or from attack by a so-called "rogue state" like Iraq or North Korea.

The Bush administration is trying to expand missile defense to include many of the various missile defense technologies including; theater, national, ship-based, land-based, boost phase. Under Bush, total missile defense spending could jump to $10 billion or more annually. The major contractors—Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and TRW—have already racked up long-term contracts for missile defense worth in excess of $20 billion, and that’s before they reap the benefits of the new spending that will flow under President Bush’s more expansive approach. In the short term, the Bush administration has increased missile defense funding from the $5.3 billion allocated for FY2001 to $8.3 billion for FY2002.

TRW is a major player in National Missile Defense, responsible for the following programs:

l NMD Battle Management Command, Control and Communications system.
l Theater Missile Defense family of systems synergy across the full spectrum of missile defense systems.
l Teamed up with Raytheon for the Program Definition Risk Reduction phase of the Space-Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS Low) program.
l Member of Team ABL (with Boeing and Lockheed Martin), designing and developing the system’s Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) and providing ground support.
l TRW also supports BMDO’s Joint National Test Facility.

But that doesn’t mean they are getting it all right.

Fraud in the Testing Program:

TRW faked tests and evaluations of a key component in the NMD system, the "hit-to-kill" vehicle that is supposed to seek out and destroy incoming nuclear warheads against a backdrop of chaff and decoys. The whistle-blower, former TRW senior engineer Dr. Nira Schwartz, served on TRW’s anti-missile team in 1995 and 1996. Schwartz contends that in test after test the interceptors failed to discriminate decoys from warheads, but management at TRW refused to report these failures to the Pentagon. After repeated appeals to her boss and colleagues to alert industrial partners and the military to her findings, Schwartz was fired.

Schwartz’s allegations revolve around the interceptor being developed for the NMD system. In using computer programs to certify to the government that TRW’s interceptor would pick out enemy warheads from decoys, Schwartz found that the proposed interceptor could do so only 5 to 15% of the time rather than 95% of the time, the performance goal established by the BMDO.

You Got to Give to Get:
TRW’s Campaign Contributions and Lobbying Expenditures

In the last ten years, as TRW solidified its position as one of the Big Four weapons contractors, its political giving has steadily increased, more than doubling since 1990. From 1990 through 2002, TRW donated more than $2 million to members of Congress. Spending on lobbyists to push their agenda in Washington was even larger, in the last three years for which data is available (1999-1997), TRW spent more than $3 million on lobbyists.

TRW also has friends in high places. Vice-president Dick Cheney, who served as Defense Secretary under Bush’s father, sat on TRW’s board. During the Bush Cheney campaign, Cheney proudly recalled that, "as a congressman, I supported every weapons bill that came down the pike."

TRW: Redefining War

TRW Inc.’s research lab is developing hand held computers for infantry soldiers. The so-called Force 21 Battle Command Brigade and Below is a hand held computer designed to tell soldiers exactly where they are, where they should go and where the enemy is. These computers, linked to satellites, and to remote command and control rooms, "tap the video game skills of young soldiers, enabling them to instantly pinpoint their position, find enemies and aim weapons."

"We are redefining war," says Col. John Antal, of the 16th Calvary Regiment in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. With a $57 million contract from the Pentagon, TRW has produced 2,000 units and has received another $47 million for 1,600 more. That is $28,500 for each device. The Pentagon hopes that eventually these hand held devices, no larger than a palm pilot, will be standard issue to all infantry soldiers. TRW hopes so too.

Conflict of Interest:

Bechtel replaced TRW Environmental Safety Systems, a subsidiary of TRW Inc., as the prime contractor at the Yucca Mountain site in February 2001 after allegations that Yucca Mountain managers were biased and cozy with the nuclear industry. Yucca Mountain, a 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is a possible repository for 77,000 tons of nuclear waste.

In January 2001, the Department of Energy initiated an investigation of TRW’s management of Yucca Mountain that centers on one of TRW’s internal memorandums and report for the DOE. In the report, TRW asserts that "all evidence to date indicates that Yucca Mountain is suitable for a [nuclear] repository." TRW stressed that the nuclear waste dump would be safe for 10,000 years, despite the fact that none of the safety studies on Yucca Mountain have been completed and the safety standards upon which such judgements would be made have not even been set yet. The accompanying cover letter implied that the report could be used as a political lobbying tool to advocate the construction of a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, saying "the overview presents a Yucca Mountain repository as the key component in DOE’s proposed solution to the nuclear waste problem."

As Representative Shelley Berkeley (D-NV) called the report part of TRW’s "pattern of deception" to accelerate process of bringing nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain and observed that, "It is unconscionable, if not illegal, for DOE to employ contractors who make irresponsible recommendations before the scientific research of Yucca Mountain is completed." Senator Henry Reid (D-NV) concurred saying that TRW’s report revealed "deception and a lack of judgment."

TRW’s Consumer Products

TRW Inc., the No. 2 maker of airbags, eliminated 1,000 jobs at the company’s automotive unit, hoping to lower expenses by about $40 million a year. TRW’s automotive division also makes braking systems, steering and suspension systems, as well as electronic safety and security systems. About 64% of TRW’s sales, which totaled $17.2 billion last year, came from automotive parts, and the remainder from space and military products.

‹TRW: Owner of a Private Military Corporation

TRW subsidiary Vinnell built the beloved and historic Dodger Stadium. But it has a dark side too. In 1975 a Pentagon official described the company, which had 5,000 employees in Vietnam, as "our own little mercenary army." For the last 22 years, Vinnell’s most lucrative contract has been with the Saudi Arabian National Guard, which, according to journalist Ken Silverstein, "protects royal family from internal unrest and guards strategic oil installations." Vinnell has about 1,000 employees in Saudi Arabia, including many retired U.S. Army Special Forces. Vinnell employees were deployed in Saudi units during the Gulf War and received bonus pay for hazardous duty.

This fact sheet was prepared by Frida Berrigan for the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute in New York.
Information was obtained from the TRW’s website, (www.trw.com),
Eureka County Yucca Mountain Information Office, (www.yuccamountain.org),
Citizen Alert of Nevada, (www.igc.apc.org/citizenalert).

For more information please consult www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms.

For More Profiles:

Alliant
Bechtel Inc.
Boeing
British Aerospace Electronics (BAE Systems)
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL)
General Dynamics
IBM
Lockheed Martin
Mitsubishi
Raytheon
Siemens
University of California

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