Transatlantic Defence Industrial Relationships: An Audit and Commentary.

摘要

In August 2000, PREST (Policy Research in Engineering, Science & Technology), a research institute of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom was asked by CNA Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia to undertake a study of the participation of ten leading US defence contractors in the European defence market. PREST was also asked to profile two leading European defence contractors - BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce - and analyse their participation in the US defence market. The study was set against a background of growing interest amongst policy makers and defence industry executives about the scope for a transatlantic dimension to defence industrial restructuring. For each US company the report describes and analyses the company's participation in the European defence market in terms of its current and potential future foreign military sales and its defence-related strategic alliances, joint ventures and acquisitions/divestments involving European firms. The report finds that the companies have differing exposure to the European market as a consequence of their corporate strategies, the types of systems they produce and the extent of European capabilities in those fields. The report also shows that the participation of US companies in the European defence market has evolved over the last fifty years from predominantly government-led arrangements driven by Cold War concerns about Western European military capabilities towards increasingly industry-led relationships driven by commercial concerns about market access. At the same time, there is a growing recognition amongst US companies that they need to do more than offer offsets if they are to secure European contracts in the future.