Patents and Dual-use Technology: An Empirical Study of the World's Largest Defence Companies

Abstract

This paper examines the generation of technological knowledge by leading companies in the defence industry. In particular, we test whether the characteristics of large defence companies are related to both the production of different types of patents (civilian, military and mixed), and the generation of dual-use technologies. To explore these links, we rely on economic data for the top 100 defence companies from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute database, and patent information from the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database. Our results show that the relationship between the production of civilian patents and the size of the company is positive and significant. However, this relationship does not hold for the production of military patents. Furthermore, the military commercial profile is unrelated to the generation of military patents. Regarding the involvement in dual-use technologies, firms engaged in dual-use are those with higher military sales, a greater number of employees and a larger number of patents (civilian, military and mixed) than those not engaged in dual-use. Furthermore, we found a skill effect (more involvement in dual-use per employee) in European firms compared to US firms. These findings help to identify which firms should be targeted by government policies if increasing dual-use technologies becomes a political objective.     

The practice of strategy: South African defence in stasis

The article concerns the strategy development processes of the South African Department of Defence in South Africa. It intends to identify the probable causes of the observed failure of the South African National Defence Force to develop appropriate departmental policy and military strategy. Military strategy comprises force development, force employment, force deployment and the coordination of these elements in pursuit of national, grand-strategic objectives. (See Dennis M. Drew and Donald M. Snow, Making Twenty-first Century Strategy: An Introduction to Modern National Security Processes and Problems Montgomery, AL: Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, November 2006, 103). Of these four constructs, the article concerns itself only with the first two. The article analyses two complementary approaches to strategy formation: a resource-driven, inside-out model and an interests-driven, outside-in method. The article concludes that the Department is preoccupied with the inside-out method to the lasting detriment of the declared strategic intent of the defence policy.     

FIPA规范的防空导弹体系Agent建模方法

针对防空导弹体系建模的复杂性,探讨研究防空导弹体系的Agent建模方法.提出了基于G/A矩阵的Agent建模方法步骤,通过分析角色之间的关系描述了Agent组织结构,给出了角色类和Agent类的统一定义,并建立了Agent结构框架和类实现模型,最后构建了基于FIPA规范的MAS综合集成框架.该方法的提出,为防空导弹体系的进一步建模提供了方法依据.     

导弹大攻角高机动飞行特性分析与仿真

以新一代无翼式气动布局导弹为背景,在大攻角气动特性理论基础上,分析了在导弹主动段、攻角在180°范围内变化的导弹飞行特性,得出了90°内大攻角最大转弯能力和180°攻角附近最大降速效果的结论。进行了俯仰平面S型轨迹机动飞行仿真,仿真结果说明了大攻角飞行的高机动特性。     

防空预警雷达阵地配置及其物元分析

防空预警雷达阵地配置是防空兵战前决策的重要内容。首先分析了影响和决定防空预警雷达阵地配置的战术因素、生存因素和地形因素,总结了防空预警雷达阵地配置的约束条件,然后依据整体探测效能最优的原则提出了防空预警雷达阵地配置的基本模型,探讨了通过调整约束参数来自动生成方案及控制方案数量的问题,最后运用物元分析法对配置方案的合理性进行了分析评判,并对配置方案进行排序,以辅助指挥员决策。     

弹炮结合武器系统综合效能评估指标体系

效能评估指标体系是弹炮结合系统综合效能评估的基础环节.首先,通过对弹炮结合系统参数结构模型的分析,探讨综合效能评估指标体系的设计原则,并提出弹炮结合系统综合效能评估指标的基本结构和体系;接着,在此基础上建立弹炮结合系统综合效能评估的模型指标框架.分析表明,该指标体系框架为弹炮结合系统的综合效能评估奠定了基础.     

舰空导弹武器系统软件靶场综合测试分析

针对舰空导弹武器系统的特点以及舰空导弹武器系统软件定型试验的现状,指出了舰空导弹武器系统软件靶场测试的必要性、特殊性。通过靶场软件测试综合试验,总结了舰空导弹武器系统软件靶场定型的试验方法。并指出了靶场软件测试的发展方向。     

Country survey X: Defence spending in Turkey

This paper provides a country survey of the Turkish defence economy. Turkey is a member of NATO alliance and is strategically located between Europe and Middle East. Moreover, Turkey has a high defence burden and high economic growth. The first part of the survey presents a brief economic background of Turkey, its armed forces, the defence industry, its modernisation and trends in Turkish defence expenditure. The rest of the paper focuses on the relationships between defence spending and economic growth. The effect of defence spending on economic growth is econometrically estimated using a supply side model. Both externality effects and the size effect of defence spending are estimated for Turkey. The study concludes that defence expenditure stimulates economic growth while externalities from the defence sector to the rest of economy are negative for Turkey.     

Hard Balancing in the Age of American Unipolarity: The Russian Response to US Ballistic Missile Defense during the Bush Administration (2001–2008)

One of the central debates in contemporary international relations scholarship concerns the issue of whether balancing has occurred in response to US-based unipolarity, and if it has, how this should be characterised. Existing research has seen analysts argue that major power responses to unipolarity can be placed in one of either three categories: an absence of balancing, soft balancing, and hard balancing. This article contributes to the scholarly literature by providing a case study of hard internal Russian balancing against the US’s development and deployment of Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) systems during the Bush Administration (2001–08). Russian hard balancing against the US has involved: (1) fielding new strategic nuclear and conventional weapons equipped with BMD countermeasures, and, relatedly, (2) making changes in military doctrine. As a result, security dilemma dynamics are increasingly in evidence in US relations with Russia.     

Army reconstruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2003–2009

Since the peace agreements of 2002–2003 which ended the second war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reconstruction of the army has been an inherently political process, in common with other attempts to carry out security sector reform (SSR). This article briefly sketches out the Congolese army's history, then attempts to fill a gap in the literature on Congolese SSR by detailing what can be found of the actual structure and shape of the present army. The efforts that have been made to reform the army are then examined, followed by a conclusion which examines the major issues and possible ways forward.