NATO and 1992 : defense acquisition and free markets / Simon Webb.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Webb, Simon, 1951-

Contributor:

Rand Corporation.

Series:

R (Rand Corporation)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Defense industries--Europe.

Defense industries.

Defense industries--United States.

Defense industries--North America.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization--Armed Forces--Procurement.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

European Economic Community.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 127 pages) : illustrations

Other Title:

NATO & 1992

Place of Publication:

Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corporation, [1989]

Summary:

Since the mid-1970s, members of NATO have doubled annual spending in real terms on new equipment for their armed forces. Throughout this period, there have been calls for greater rationalization, standardization, and interoperability among the Allies. Countries have also changed the way they acquire equipment. This report tracks the changes in patterns of acquisition since the 1960s. It also assesses the main forms of cooperation in more detail. It reviews the growth in transatlantic trade following initiatives in the 1970s, the emergence of collaborative development programs, the role of licensed and co-production schemes, and trade in components and other subcontract items. It examines the results of these policies on frontline forces in Europe and the North Atlantic, and reviews the theoretical benefits expected from the free markets, and the potential for securing similar gains in defense acquisition. The author discusses defense, and other, reasons that countries may prefer to buy equipment from domestic industries. He compares the evolving institutional frameworks of NATO and the European Economic Community for public sector purchasing. He then discusses the broader implications for NATO of the free trade blocks, and particularly how these might affect relationships between the United States and Europe. Finally, he considers possible ways in which free market principles might be reconciled in practice with key concerns of defense policy.

Notes:

"Supported by the Ford Foundation."

"July 1989."