BOMBING PAKISTAN WITH ACRA CONTROL

March 12, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

The Phoenix
Feb 27 2009

THE ELECTION of Barack Obama has seen no change in US military activity within Pakistan, something which the new President hinted at on the election trail. This is a covert affair with US spooks dictating the conflict, much of which has been carried out with ‘drone’ aircraft, including two missile strikes just last week. This is good news for Dublin company, Acra Control Ltd (ACL), which provides essential technology to the deadly machines.

Goldhawk last year revealed ACL’s involvement in the production of the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper, the latest and – with almost 4,000 lb of laser-guided weapons – the deadliest drone aircraft to be used by the US military so far (see The Phoenix, 8/8/2008). This debuted over Iraq last summer and has been deployed in Afghanistan since 2007, where such attacks are operated by the US Air Force. In Pakistan, however, the CIA is in charge of operations and, as such, the Reaper forms part of a much murkier operation.
The New York Times recently reported that there had been at least 30 such missile assaults in Pakistan since August and the election of Barack Obama is unlikely to change the trend. Indeed, the President pledged to strike at “high-value terrorist targets” in Pakistan if that country’s armed forces wouldn’t do the striking themselves. And despite calls from Pakistani officials to stop the drone attacks, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates recently said that the drone attacks would continue. Moreover, Gates is leading the push to use more and more drones in the battlefield, which is all great news for ACL. The Stillorgan-based company provides telemetry equipment to the Reaper’s contractor, General Atomics, for use in the drone.
ACL’s shareholders include engineers, Diarmuid Corry, Niall McGirr, Aaron McNelis and Fergal Bonner, each of whom controls 10%. ACT Venture Capital owns close to 1/3 of the business while the Taxpayer has also invested through the state agency, Enterprise Ireland. All in all, ACL has received about €lm from Enterprise Ireland over the years.