Chapter 2

It seems there is no SIC or NAIC code for small arms dealers(Those 4 or 6 digit Industry segment identifiers). We did discover it was much easier to be a buyer than a seller though. I think I mentioned our initial foray into the arms business was less than a stellar one.

Try placing an ad saying ‘P-90s for sale, new and slightly used. Only $1,999 FOB in quantities of 100-500’. Not exactly front page filler for the Financial Times. With our actual investment in Norma Precision, we made a breakthrough. It seems our $25 Million investment opened doors we never might have known were closed. We were now considered ‘insiders’, almost ‘Club Geneva’ members. I think our offer to make loans to Norma made us ‘Persona Gratissima’ now.

Bri led our foray, laptop in-hand, she and the girls went to Geneva, then to Amortfors, Sweden(Near Norway’s border) with some fanfare. I told you they were ‘eye candy’ but a few keystrokes to our bank made Norma a bit richer and very happy. They, at least, had little trouble doing business with a female now, especially when she brought her assistants(Including Sissy) along and both spoke Swedish and low and behold some Norwegian also.

The big boys were not very interested in deals that did start with a Trillion dollars. That first week they came back with $4.5 Billion worth of 10 small requests. True, they were mostly for police and security clients For P-90 ammo(5.7 x 28mm) but for some NATO spec HK MP7’s too.(4.6 x 30mm) One request was notable, hundreds of AT4(Anti Tank guns), BOFORS 40 mm auto-cannons and Gustav recoilless rifles, an order with ammo possibly worth into the $ Billions. Like all things, this request was not without some problems; sort of big problems.

Norway and Sweden stood to maintain an increased level of production for several years with this. Like I said, Politics, Crime and Wars were not negatively affected by the economy. My girls brought back enough business for us to get started however, this one request needed more than a bit of discussion.

Price, it seemed was of no concern. Their, ‘if possible you could add 100 ‘Gripens’ (JAS 39 Fighters) to our order’.(With spares, ammo and custom electronics about a $ Billion more. The margins went up, way up past 20% if we did the whole deal. They would pay cash, half now, half on delivery. Sweden and Norway even agreed to post a bond and defer our payments to NORMA until we got paid; they really wanted this business. The problem was, where and to whom they were going to. Iran had the ‘EMBARGO’ thing in-place it seemed.

Russia (via Finland) would gladly fill much or their order, but not with the ‘Gripens. Finland was highly motivated to not upset Sweden too much but still needed to appease Russia. Waiting in the winds, so to speak was an order for ammo, spares and upgraded counter-measures and targeting electronics for 600 ‘Gripens’ they already owned. The Russians hoped to sell almost $ 100 Billion worth of the SU-57 fighters, but ... they crashed a lot while both the SU-27 and SU-37 were better fighters and at nearly twice the price, should be. (Flanker E) A few $ Billion was somewhat less to spend for Iran than a few $ Trillion it seemed. Then again, that Embargo thing pretty much kept the US(F-22 and F-35) out of the game. Since China and/or Mongolia were at odds with Iran, so no J-20s even at nearly three times the price of the JAS-39s. What to do, what to do?

Our potential ‘client’ really made a decision for us, ending the need for further discussion. It was that same old issue with the Middle East. Iran would not deal with a women and if any were to be admitted they must ... and on and on their list of demands went.