The rising unit cost of defence equipment — The reasons and the results

This paper constructs a conceptual model for the selection of defence equipment providing best value for money. It then shows how the unit cost of the chosen equipment increases between one generation of equipment and its successor because of developments in the perceived threat, the available technology and industrial productivity, and demonstrates that unit cost increases can arise from a logical and rational procurement policy and are not necessarily caused by technological chimeras and military vainglory. The resulting persistent rise in unit cost is unlikely to be significantly slowed by any of the counter‐measures yet proposed.

The paper then discusses the policies which nations have adopted to accommodate past increases in unit cost, and the options which confront any nation at the point when it can no longer afford to re‐equip a particular element of its armed forces.     

‘I have seen the future and it works’: The US defence industry transformation – lessons for the UK defence industrial base

The US has embarked upon a major transformation of its approach to defence industrial base planning. Although bureaucratic and industrial inertia, as well as budgetary constraints, may delay transformation, its effects will lead to radical changes in the US defence industrial base with new entrants and new combinations of players. The UK, with more modest defence ambitions, capabilities and budget, will seek to keep in touch with the US. However, a commercially‐led drive to embed UK industry even more deeply in the US defence market could be the last step in creating a largely US–UK North Atlantic relationship, with much of Europe very much a subsidiary business concern. This contains a risk that the UK will become increasingly dependent on the US for design and integration of major systems and national defence industrial capability focused on a limited number of niche technologies.     

Optimal defence structure for a small country

Small countries may not be able to afford all force elements (army, navy, air-force) operated by larger countries and certainly cannot afford all sub-elements (aircraft carriers, submarines, etc). This paper provides a framework for a small country to analyse its force structure, examining the influence of objectives, international co-operation, funding and technological constraints, and uncertainty. We analyse when a small country may choose to retain a balanced structure (with each force element) and when it may choose to drop one or more elements. The issues are illustrated with the decision by the New Zealand government over whether to retain a strike aircraft capacity.     

Home Defence and the Sandys Defence White Paper, 1957

Long understood as the key document in Britain's Cold War history, the Duncan Sandys Defence White Paper of 1957 nevertheless has a largely forgotten context: home defence. This article argues that understanding this context allows important new conclusions to be drawn concerning the drafting, presentation and the reception of the document and the deterrent strategy it expounded. It argues that the Paper failed to establish a new doctrine for civil defence which reconciled the policy with the wider deterrent strategy. In doing this, the Paper presented a muddled policy to the public: one which failed to justify the reductions in civil defence provision but which stressed the destructive power of thermonuclear weapons. This had the effect of encouraging the critics of the government's nuclear strategy to flag up the absence of adequate civil defence measures and highlight the ‘admission’ that there was no defence against the hydrogen bomb.     

对建立和完善四个机制提高武器装备采办效率和费用效益的思考

分析了目前我国武器装备采办体制和机制中存在的不足,对如何建立和完善四个机制,提高武器装备采办效率和费用效益做了一些探讨。     

Country survey IX: Spain

From the early 1980s Spain embarked on a wide‐ranging process of military reform, from organisational changes to defence industrial policies. Investment in military equipment was set to grow, policies were drawn up to foster the domestic defence industrial base, defence R&D rocketed, and Spain joined a myriad of international arms development programmes. Yet, by 1991 the process of reform had run out of steam. Expenditure planning proved unreliable, and firms suffered from sharp cutbacks in procurement expenditure. The model of defence industrial growth sketched in the mid‐1980s had floundered. The Spanish case provides an example of how the quest to maximise defence procurement from domestic sources can fall victim to industrial and budgetary constraints. Spanish defence producers are now becoming increasingly intertwined with foreign defence companies.     

建立和完善武器装备采办监督约束机制

分析了当前我军装备采办过程中采办监督机制存在的主要问题 ,讨论了建立有效装备采办约束机制所应遵循的一些基本原则 ,并就建立有效的装备采办监督约束机制所应开展的工作提出了比较全面的观点。     

从装备思维与军事实践互动关系看装备科研工作内涵、地位与作用

装备思维是人类智慧的结晶和科技文明产物,它反映一定时期人们对于装备设计的理念,也反映了该时期主流军事战略的思维方式.本文对军事装备涉及的论证、研制、试验、鉴定和使用等环节进行梳理,从装备思维与实践互动关系探讨装备科研工作的内涵、地位和作用.     

装备采购中的信息不对称问题及其对策研究

装备采购中存在着严重的信息不对称,减少装备采购中的信息不对称问题是一项重要的工作,在介绍装备采购中非对称信息的基础上,运用博弈论的数学工具建立起装备采购中非对称信息博弈的模型图,并给出了减少非对称信息问题的博弈模型,提高了装备采购的效益.     

装备保障性风险识别与分析技术研究

为了解决目前装备在保障性方面存在的问题,给出了可操作性强而且实用的保障性风险识别与分析的技术与方法。该方法包括保障性风险区域的确定,保障性风险判断准则的建立,保障性风险的量化,保障性风险的评定等,为保障性风险管理提供了有效的方法和手段,从而为提高装备战备完好性和作战能力提供了有力支持。     

Country survey: military expenditure and defence policy in Norway 1970–2013

This article examines military expenditure and defence policy in Norway from 1970 to 2013. Until 1990 Norwegian military expenditure remained between 2.5 and 3.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite constant GDP shares, the military expenditure could not sustain a large and properly armed mobilization army. The constant nominal defence budgets of the 1990s accentuated the Norwegian Armed Forces' underlying imbalance between tasks, structure and budget. Around year 2000, large organizational reforms were effectuated, in which costs, the number of man-years, and underlying imbalances between tasks, structure and budget were reduced. Military expenditure increased in nominal terms between 2003 and 2013, while real military expenditure remained practically constant.     

The future of the defence firm in small and medium countries

The Western European defence industry used to be characterized by numerous constraints, especially in the small countries, subject to uneconomic defence production policies. It faces, since the end of the Cold War, a succession of new challenges such as budget restrictions, armament reductions and geopolitical upheavals. The EU is pushing in the direction of a cohesive foreign policy, including security and defence. Today, the emergence of a more consolidated European defence industry and the presence of oligopolistic European companies imply the definition of new roles for the EU and for its European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The solution is not protectionism, but more co‐operation to ensure effective defence production at a socially acceptable cost. In the framework of this co‐operation, defence companies in small and medium countries have a role to play as part of the supply chain to major weapon system integrators.     

装备采购与部署的系统动力学模型

在研究装备采办全过程的基础上,利用系统动力学仿真方法和“龙格-库塔”(Runge-Kutta)基本算法,重点对采购与部署子系统进行了建模和计算机仿真,在具体仿真结果输出的基础上,分析了影响装备采购与部署效率的因素,对装备如何尽快形成新的战斗力进行了简要的分析。     

武器装备采办实行招标制探讨

总结了外军采办中招标的经验 ,阐明了我军招标工作的重要性和必要性 ,分析了武器装备招标的特点 ,对装备采办如何招标投标进行了探讨 ,提出了招标中应注意的若干问题