[Peace] Rhode Island-based Textron apparently getting out of the cluster bomb business

[Robert Naiman]

On June 16, we got 204 votes in the House for banning the transfer of
cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. How did we get 204 votes? Part of the story
was, we weren't making any progress on going after arms transfers to Saudi
Arabia alone. So we thought: well, some people don't like Saudi Arabia, and
some people don't like cluster bombs. Maybe if we put the two together,
we'll really have something. Like peanut butter and chocolate. "Two great
tastes that taste great together."

So here's an update on the other half of the story: cluster bombs.
Apparently Rhode Island-based Textron, which had the Pentagon-approved
Saudi cluster bomb contract, and was the sole U.S. producer, is now getting
out of the cluster bomb business (they call it "sensor-fuzed weapon.")

[...]
"Historically, sensor-fuzed weapon sales have relied on foreign military
and direct commercial international customers for which both executive
branch and congressional approval is required," the company said in its
filing. *"The current political environment has made it difficult to obtain
these approvals."*
[...]

- Textron to discontinue production of sensor-fuzed weapon
http://insidedefense.com/insider/textron-discontinue-
production-sensor-fuzed-weapon

People who follow this issue closely say this is a very big deal, and will
hopefully significantly assist efforts to get the U.S. to finally join the
convention to ban cluster bombs.

===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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