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ITT to Run Vieques Bombing Range
While the drama of Vieques unfolded in the Caribbean and the mass media in May and June, the military signed off with corporate giant ITT to operate the Vieques bombing range for up to six years. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center on May 25 sealed a contract with ITT Industries' Systems Division, based in Colorado Springs, CO, to maintain and operate the range complex in Vieques and surrounding islands and waters for $11 million a year, renewable annually.
"This win continues ITT Industries leadership in the Naval Range market," chirped Jim Cameron, president of the Systems Division. In addition to the bombing range on Vieques itself, known as the Inner Range, the complex to be run by ITT includes an underwater range with billions of dollars worth of sensors, and facilities on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Pico del Este and other sites.
ITT also operates the Pacific Missile Range in Hawai'i and the firing range at Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California, according to its web-site (http://www.ittind.com). According to Marta Villaizán, a Puerto Rican historian who discovered the ITT contract, ITT will be testing new weapons systems in Vieques and its surrounding waters, including Tomahawk missiles. Appendix G of the contract provides that ITT will also test "Mark" torpedos, a submarine version of the Tomahawk, according to Villaizán. The operational evaluations of these weapons will take place between 2000 and 2005, and many will take place in Puerto Rico. "They will certainly not be inert," Villaizán says.
ITT's annual report for 1999 boasts of doubled earnings for its shareholders and "improved profit margins" for its weapons exports business. ITT is known as a telecommunications company — and for its active support of the covert CIA operation that overthrew the elected socialist Chilean government of Salvador Allende in 1973.
To let ITT know what you think about its profiting from the bombing of Vieques, call or write: Jim Cameron, President, ITT Industries Systems Division, P.O. Box 15012, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-5012. Tel: 719-591-3600 ext. 4103. Fax: 719-591-3698.
Sources: El Nuevo Dia, 7/9/00; ITT website.
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