Signs of Acceptance of a Globalized Defence Policy?
April 22 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Last June, the US signed a defense trade cooperation treaty with the UK and proceeded to sign a similar one with Australia in September. These treaties will allow the States to trade most defense technologies more quickly with the UK and Australia because an export license will no longer be needed.
As we wait for the US Congress to ratify these defense cooperation treaties, we have to believe that we are seeing the establishment accept the fact that globalization is inevitable and healthy - even when it comes to defence products.
Your correspondent is in complete agreement with a Heritage Foundation comment by Baker Spring that stated, "In fact, the investment costs of even attempting to establish an autarchic policy would be extremely high, and it would fail to ensure the supply of cutting-edge technology to the military. The latter shortcoming stems from the fact that isolated and protected industries tend to be less creative. For example, the Soviet Union made enormous investments in its defense industrial base but could not match the U.S. in defense technology. In short, global interaction tends to foster creativity in the defense industrial base."
Looking outside the US is imperative, not only because innovation is taking place around the world but also because there is competition for good innovator's attention even within the US. According to the Heritage article, DoD no longer funds the bulk of US research and development. This means that DoD will have to find new carrots to entice innovators to work in the defense market.
These treaties, which provide easier access to three markets, will improve the quality of the technologies that the US and its allies purchase. The added bonus of this is as it becomes more common for these forces to join together in operations, integration becomes less of an issue. Your humble correspondent fully supports these treaties and patiently waits for them to be ratified.
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