[Defense One] Northrop Grumman said Thursday that it would walk away from a U.S. government cluster bomb contract as the company moves to distance itself from the deadly weapons commonly associated with civilian casualties.
Uh huh. The sea among which the predator fish freely swim
The contract involves the "testing of cluster munition components" and is "structured to help remove cluster munitions safely," Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said on her company's quarterly earnings call on Thursday.
The company does not make cluster munitions, which are air or ground-launched bombs that contain submunitions that spread indiscriminately over a wide area. Unexploded weapons from wars decades ago are still killing civilians.
"We recognize that even supporting an area like cluster munitions for investors is of concern, because safe removal implies that at one point there was an embracing of the use of these products," she said. "When we look at our portfolio, we are going to continue to recognize, we support our government and our allies in the important work of enabling our troops to do their work, but at the same time, be thoughtful about potential human rights implications, and how these technologies may be used in the future and provides equal consideration to safeguards associated with them."
With Democrats now controlling the White House and Congress, Warden used the earnings call to tout the company’s environment, sustainability, and workforce-diversification efforts. |