Martin-Baker Aircraft Company

It was, it was, it was good.

You know, we worked on a, when I was in the shop, we worked the dough, you know, we had to take apart the Martin Baker ejection seat and, to work on that, you know, just, you know, make sure everything was working on it right, you know, so it was, but I like being out in the field working with the, you know, just, you know, filling the liquid containers and stuff like that.

It was, it was an...

How often would you have to fill them? Was it before every flight or...

The very same words are used because it is the essential point in what Daniel chapter 4 is trying to drive home.

So there's a British company called Martin-Baker, and Martin-Baker, they do one thing.

They create ejection seats for military aircraft.

If someone is ever punched out of a plane that's going down, they've experienced the gift of Martin-Baker.

Canopy comes off, seat ignites, they're thrown to safety from a potentially crashing plane.

And when a person ejects from an airplane, Martin-Baker, the company, will send that person a membership card.

[laughs]

[laughs] You are now in the Martin-Baker membership.

Start your free trial today.

Coming up on the Threat Status Podcast, we talk to Matt Johnson, the Vice President and General Manager of Martin Baker America, all about making ejection and crash worthy seats for US military fighter jets and helicopters.

And then we break down Defense Secretary Hegseth's major speech and the creation of the Autonomous Warfare Command.

And we talk about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and whether Iran is making good on its promise to expand the battlefield.

Don't forget to go to WashingtonTimes.com and sign up for the daily threat status newsletter.

hello and welcome to the threat status podcast i'm your host ben wolfgang national security correspondent at the washington times joined as always by my esteemed co-host guy taylor the national security editor here at the times look if you're into aircraft aviation aerospace and the defense industrial base related to all of that You're in luck this week because I have an exclusive interview coming up with Matt Johnson of Martin Baker America, a company that, of course, makes ejection seats for fighter jets and crash-worthy seats for helicopters.

They invited me up to their facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania this week, and that's where I had a great conversation with Matt that you'll hear a bit later in the show.

But, Guy, first things first, as always, before we get to that, what's on your radar right now?

Uh, is it the, um...

So I was looking, it's the Mark 58 that has the early generation Martin-Baker Mark.

So it's like the face curtain, and it's the very, very harsh seat.

Old mechanical explosive system standard on Cold War era.

Yeah

... just all around.

Um, [laughs] need, need to buy some stock in Martin-Baker.

[laughs]

It's understood that the pilots, uh, have been transferred to a hospital in Birmingham where they presumably, uh, will recuperate from what are said to be minor injuries.

Uh, this brings the total Martin-Baker ejections that have saved aircrews up to 7,827.

It should be noted as well that the RAF has announced that it is pausing Hawk T.1 and T.2 operations while this incident is under further investigation.

So the two pilots ejected out of the aircraft, uh, before the RAF training aircraft crashed and burst into flames, narrowly missing homes.

Um, what's, what's gone on there.

Um, but, uh, they got out quick, that's for sure, both pilots.

Um, so, um, yeah, uh, Martin-Baker ejector seat's doing its job once again.

Um, I'm hoping... 'Cause I've just met up with a, a friend of a friend the other day that used to be an engineer with Martin-Baker, so, uh, recently retired, so I'm hoping to perhaps get him on the show at, uh, at some point.

7.35. Sarah, you want to talk about that initiative as regards education.

Martin, you want to talk about the boats, and we will come to you right after our conversation about the world of business.

Christian May, Editor-in-Chief at City AM, joins me now, and we need to talk about growth, and I'm afraid it's a gloomy start.

from what you're going to tell us.

A bleak picture painted by LBC Scotland correspondent Alan Sosinski.

Coming up after...

Come to your calls concerning the boats, Martin.

I will get to you, but it will have to be after the headlines.

Yeah, no, it's good to see another life saved.

Is that a Martin Baker seat?

Aces too.

Aces too.

But I would say the real degradation of the Argentine Air Force actually came after the war, and that was the result of these sanctions that I mentioned that were levied by the British government as a sort of punitive measures for Argentina's aggression, particularly the UK government banned the export of any British made military components from being supplied to Argentina.

So in the context of fighter aircraft, that means Martin Baker ejection seats.

and any kind of avionics and sensors from BAE systems.

So the result of that was an effective ban on the export of any combat fighters to Argentina for several decades.

And that was sort of enabled because Denmark had started to receive the newer F-35A from Lockheed Martin.

And, you know, one notable detail in this whole saga is that the F-16 uses the American made Collins ACES II ejection seat.

So that kind of removed the British government's veto power over the third party sale, whereas some of these other options use the Martin Baker seat.

And another interesting piece of the story that I had uncovered when first reporting this a few years ago when we found out this sale was going to be approved was that the British government actually slightly softened its stance on selling weapons to Argentina as far back as 2018.