Effects of United States Government Policy on the Transfer of Military Technology to Australia

摘要

The Australian Department of Defense experiences some difficulty in acquiring the necessary technical data to support defence equipment procured from the U.S. This study undertook to identify the key organizational players in the U.S. military technology transfer system; what difficulties arise for Australia when applying for the transfer of technology; the primary source of the difficulties; and why difficulties arise in the system. The methodology was based initially on personal interviews, and an extensive literature review. A survey questionnaire was developed from an analysis of the information from the above two sources, to measure (on an interval scale) the difference in attitudes between U.S. and Australian officials concerning eight proposed constructs which were believed to underlie technology transfer issues. The findings supported the global alternative hypothesis that there was a significant difference in attitudes between Australian and U.S. officials on policy matters concerning the development and implementation of the U.S. technology transfer policy. Six of the remaining eight sub-hypotheses were also rejected in the statistical analysis.