UN experts identify British weapon components in Yemen

Experts from the United Nations has identified fragments of laser-guided missile systems used by the Saudi military in Yemen that they concluded could break international law. The fragments were from a guidance unit stamped with the name "EDO MBM Technology ltd", a company based in Brighton and the focus of significant protest. The guidance system was used on a Paveway IV laser guided bomb, a guided version of the MK82, and is constructed by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. The report makes it clear that the only "party to the conflict with the known capability to deliver the Mark 82 HE aircraft bomb with the Paveway IV GPS/INS is the Saudi Arabia led coalition."

EDO MBM is ultimately owned by the US company L3 Harris, a company formed out of the recent merger of L3 Technologies and the Harris Corporation to become the US' sixth biggest arms company.

The attacks where the bomb fragments were found took place on 13th September 2016, when the Saudi military bombed a water pump factory, a brick factory and a tube factory. The Saudi military said that they believed that the complex was being used to construct parts for missiles, but the UN report concluded that “there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the factory complex had become a legitimate military objective”.

The full report can be found on the UN website here: https://www.undocs.org/en/S/2018/594