ARMSCOR
ARMSCOR (South African Arms Corporation) is South Africa's state weapons manufacturer that played a significant role in covert Cold War arms trafficking through its dealings with Carlos Cardoen, Gerald Bull, and Israeli defense contractors under apartheid-era sanctions evasion arrangements.
ARMSCOR (South African Arms Corporation) is the government weapons manufacturer of South Africa. It played a significant role in the international arms trade, particularly in its dealings with Carlos Cardoen and Gerald Bull, and its involvement in supplying Iraq.1
In 1979, Carlos Cardoen obtained a brokering license from ARMSCOR after being rejected by Israel. This allowed him to begin his work as an arms producer and broker.1
ARMSCOR collaborated with Cardoen in selling arms to Iraq. Alan Sanders of ITICO provided technology for cluster bombs to Cardoen, which were then produced with a covert U.S. license.1
In 1983, ARMSCOR contracted Gerald Bull for his "supergun" artillery project, following an introduction by Mark Thatcher and Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen, chief of South African Defense Force.1
ARMSCOR was represented at a meeting in Santiago, Chile, in late 1986, where U.S. officials, including Robert Gates, reaffirmed their intention to maintain arms channels to Iraq through South Africa and Chile.1
In late 1988, Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen informed Ari Ben-Menashe that South Africa had stopped the flow of technology to Iraq, claiming it was due to a decision to resume nuclear cooperation with Israel. However, Israeli intelligence later confirmed that while South Africa was not directly dealing with Iraq, it was involved with Chile, which continued to supply Iraq through the Cardoen network. The CIA reportedly used ARMSCOR to facilitate the transfer of nuclear technology to Iraq.1
Sources
- Ben-Menashe, Ari. Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network. TrineDay, 1992. ↩
Local network
ARMSCOR's direct connections. Click any node to navigate, drag to pan, scroll (or pinch) to zoom. + 2‑hop expands the neighborhood one level further.
An interactive diagram of ARMSCOR's connections, drawn on a canvas and explored with a pointer. The same connections are listed as links in the Connected and Mentioned-in sections below.
Legend — how to read this graph
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