MCI, Inc. was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunications companies, including MCI Communications in 1998, and filed bankruptcy in 2002 after an accounting scandal, in which several executives, including CEO Bernard Ebbers, were convicted of a scheme to inflate the company's assets. In January 2006, the company, by then renamed MCI, was acquired by Verizon Communications and was later integrated into Verizon Business.
A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, more compact, concealable and more maneuverable than a conventionally configured firearm. Where it is desirable for troops to be issued a more compact weapon, the use of a bullpup configuration allows for barrel length to be retained, thus preserving muzzle velocity, range and ballistic effectiveness.
The Steyr AUG is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG.
Adelphia Communications Corporation was an American cable television company with headquarters in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1952 by brothers Gus and John Rigas after the pair purchased a cable television franchise for US$300. Combining various cable properties, the company became one of the most successful in the United States and reached over two million subscribers in 1998. In addition to cable television, Adelphia later started providing high-speed internet, phone services and voice messaging for businesses.
The arms industry, also known as the defence industry,military industry, or the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. Public sector and private sector firms conduct research and development, engineering, production, and servicing of military material, equipment, and facilities. Customers are the armed forces of states, and civilians. An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition – whether privately or publicly owned – are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination. Products of the arms industry include weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, military communications and other electronics, and more. The arms industry also provides other logistical and operational support.
Sphinx Systems Limited was a Swiss-based manufacturer of high quality pistols used mainly by special forces, elite police units and sports shooters. Sphinx was founded in 1976, specializing in tooling and machining, and then diversified into the firearms industry during the 1980s. Sphinx is best known for its development work on the original Czech-designed CZ 75 pistol, which evolved into the Sphinx 2000, Sphinx 3000 custom competition pistol, and Sphinx SDP Compact. Sphinx went out of business in July 2016.
China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group, and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited, is a Chinese state-owned defense corporation that manufactures commercial and military products. Norinco Group is one of the world's largest defense contractors.
Armscor Global Defense, Inc. is a firearms manufacturing company based in the Philippines. It is known for its inexpensive 1911-pattern pistols, revolvers, shotguns, sporting rifles, firearms parts and ammunition. Armscor, whose manufacturing facility is located in Marikina, produces about 200,000 firearms and some 420 million rounds of ammunition a year, where 80 percent of this is exported and sold to over 60 countries. The company was known as the Arms Corporation of the Philippines (Armscor) until 2017.
Pacific Aerospace Ltd (PAL) is an aircraft manufacturing company based in Hamilton, New Zealand. Along with its predecessors, it has produced around 600 utility, training and agricultural aircraft.
Colt Defense LLC, together with its subsidiaries, is an American designer, developer and manufacturer of small arms weapons systems for individual soldiers and law enforcement personnel. It is headquartered in West Hartford, Connecticut. The company traces its portfolio of products and services back to Colt's Manufacturing Company and prior to that to Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company.
Steyr Arms is a firearms manufacturer based in Sankt Peter in der Au, Austria. Originally part of Steyr-Daimler-Puch, it became independent when the conglomerate was broken up in 1989. Prior to 1 January 2019, the company was named Steyr Mannlicher AG.
The Cunningham scandal was a U.S. political scandal in which defense contractors paid bribes to members of Congress and officials in the U.S. Defense Department, in return for political favors in the form of federal contracts. Most notable amongst the recipients of the bribes was California Congressman Duke Cunningham who pleaded guilty to receiving over $2.3 million in bribes. The primary defense contractors were Mitchell Wade and Brent R. Wilkes.
Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, doing business as ST Engineering, is a Singaporean multinational technology and engineering group in the aerospace, smart city as well as defence and public security sectors. Headquartered in Singapore, the group reported a revenue of S$7.7 billion in FY2021, ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange, and is one of Asia's largest defence and engineering groups. It is a component stock of FTSE Straits Times Index, MSCI Singapore, iEdge SG ESG Transparency Index and iEdge SG ESG Leaders Index. ST Engineering has about 23,000 employees worldwide with two-thirds of its employees in the engineering and technology roles.
B&T AG is a Swiss defence supplier specializing in the design and manufacturing of firearms and tactical components such as sound suppressors and rail systems. The company is based in Thun, canton of Berne.
Magpul Industries Corporation is an American designer and manufacturer of high-tech polymer and composite firearms accessories like M-LOK. Magpul Industries takes its name from its first product, the MagPul, an accessory for the STANAG magazines used by NATO armed forces, which aids users in pulling magazines from pouches.
Lewis Machine and Tool Company (LMT) is an American armaments company founded by Karl Lewis, in 1980. LMT manufactures weapon systems including a variant of the M4 carbine and the M203 grenade launcher. LMT products are used by the military forces of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Estonia, and the United States. LMT formerly produced forged FAL receivers for Illinois-based DS Arms.
The Brügger & Thomet MP9 is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge that is designed and manufactured by Brügger & Thomet.
The Iver Johnson AMAC-1500/5100 is a 36 lb manually-operated single-shot sniper rifle/anti-material rifle. The 29" barrel with a massive 7" two-stage muzzle brake on its end has a 1 in 14" twist rifling rate, an adjustable crisp trigger pull between 3 lbs - 8 lbs, an adjustable stock length of pull between 13.75" to 15.5," and a stock comb adjustable to +1.5" for operator tuning. The rifle featured a removable "shell holder" rotating bolt with three lugs. For each shot, the removable bolt was rotated and removed from the receiver, then a cartridge was inserted into a half-circular retaining ridge breech bolt face, and then bolt with cartridge were inserted back into receiver and locked closed prior to firing pin cocking and firing. As such, there is no 'safety' once the bolt is engaged with a live round other than counter-rotating the bolt from the locked position. The rifle does not have any integral open sights as only telescopic sights were intended to be used. The integral receiver dove-tail rail with cross-key is set up for a scope mount with fixed ring spacing and 60 min of angle elevation. The rifle was not designed to be fired offhand, and thus had no forearm; instead, each rifle was issued with integral stout folding bipod attached to the receiver that allowed harmonic tuning adjustment in the bipod tube. For carry, rifle was easily disassembled into several major parts. There are several variants that also have larger calibers for this same design.
The defence industry sector of India is a strategically important sector in India. India has one of the world's largest military forces with a strength of over 14.4 lakh active personnel. It has the world's largest volunteer military of over 51 lakh personnel. The total budget sanctioned for the Indian military for the financial year 2021 is ₹4.78 lakh crore. It has the third largest annual defence budget behind USA and China. It is the second largest defence importer behind Saudi Arabia making up 9.2% of global arms import. India has a domestic defence industry of which 80% is government owned. The public sector includes DRDO and its 50 labs, 4 defence shipyards, 12 defence PSUs. India has a new defence procurement, acquisition and manufacturing policy to reduce imports and enhance domestic manufacturing.
