Why small guns have been critical to layered CUAS architectures
Multiple countries have been deploying small arms as the last line of drone defence due to their multiple operational and tactical advantages.
Norway's wealth fund excludes nine groups from portfolio
Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has excluded nine groups, including the UK's military equipment maker BAE Systems, from its portfolio based on ethical grounds, the Norwegian central bank announced on 16 January.
The British defence group, along with the US firms Aecom, Fluor and Huntington Ingalls Industries have been banned for producing components to build nuclear weapons, the central bank said.
The fund has banned BAE Systems in the past but later re-introduced the group and Italy's Finmeccanica, now called Leonardo, after their joint venture, missile maker MBDA, stopped producing ASMP-A nuclear warhead missiles for the French army.
This time, BAE Systems is accused of having signed a 2015 agreement with the US authorities for the maintenance and modernisation of the Trident and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Honeywell International, which has been blacklisted since 2005, was confirmed to be banned for similar reasons despite the group's recent assurances that it does not produce nuclear missiles or warheads.
The fund has also banned Taiwanese Evergreen Marine, South Korea's Korea Line, Polish Atal and Thailand's Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies for posing environmental risks or systematic human rights violations.
The South Korean shipping company Pan Ocean has also been placed under observation.
The fund which has shares in some 9,000 companies around the world, must follow ethical rules which prohibit it from investing in companies that produce nuclear arms, tobacco, risk environmental damage, violate human rights, and groups deriving a large part of their business from coal.
Its decisions are all the more important since they are often followed by other investors.
Nearly 150 companies, including giants like Airbus, Boeing, British American Tobacco and Wal Mart, Rio Tinto and Philip Morris have been blacklisted. A dozen other groups are under observation.
You may also like
More from Defence Notes
-
![Why small guns have been critical to layered CUAS architectures]()
-
![Singapore Airshow 2026: ST Engineering hints at export success for AME assault rifle family]()
Singapore Airshow 2026: ST Engineering hints at export success for AME assault rifle family
The Singapore-based technology company unveiled its new rifle family at this week’s airshow. Chen Chuanren spoke with the ST Engineering’s head of small arms to find out more about how the weapons have been refined.
-
![High tension in the High North – a wake-up call for NATO’s future Arctic defence efforts?]()
High tension in the High North – a wake-up call for NATO’s future Arctic defence efforts?
Any potential ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission would be months in the planning, but with tensions high in the region given the US’s push for Greenland, NATO countries will need to continue to emphasise their commitment to the region, analysts have said.
-
![Venezuela prepares personnel and equipment for a potential second US attack]()
Venezuela prepares personnel and equipment for a potential second US attack
Defence Minister Gen Vladimir Padrino López has declared that the Venezuelan armed forces “will continue to employ all its available capabilities for military defence”.
-
![As the new year starts, the UK defence spending delay continues]()
As the new year starts, the UK defence spending delay continues
The UK’s defence spending commitments remain uncertain as the government’s Defence Investment Plan, which had been due by the end of 2025, is yet to be published.
-
![How might European countries look to tackle drone incursions?]()
How might European countries look to tackle drone incursions?
Disruption of infrastructure in Europe, whether by cyberattack, physical damage to pipelines or uncrewed aerial vehicles flying over major airports, as has happened more recently, is on the rise. What is the most effective way of countering the aerial aspect of this not-so-open warfare?
