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European defence procurement refers to the collective armaments purchasing policies of European nations.

Traditionally European countries have either developed their own weapon systems or bought 'off the shelf' systems usually NATO-sponsored from the United States or from the Soviet Union, now from Russia. In the modern era, reduced defence budgets and increasing complexity make it difficult for most countries to develop their own weapon systems. Furthermore identical projects in differing countries was recognised as a waste of resources. However the same countries often do not wish to purchase American systems because the perception of a loss of sovereignty and the profits (and jobs) go to American companies.

Therefore some European nations are attempting to pool their resources to create multinational programmes to create a more independent and competitive capability. The European Defence Agency was established in 2001 to create such a stronger European market for defence equipment.

History

The Eurofighter Typhoon is an example of European commitment to its own industry. Previously the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy had cooperated in producing the Panavia Tornado in the 1970s, and the UK and France had cooperated in producing the SEPECAT Jaguar. These projects stand in contrast to the controversial British cancellation of the TSR-2 and subsequent purchase of the US-built F-4 Phantom II.

Industry

While European defence budgets remain fragmented and massive duplication in research and development exists, the European defence industry has made some moves towards consolidation. British Aerospace was widely expected to merge with Germany’s DASA to form the first major European defence giant. Instead in 1999 BAe merged with another British company, GEC's defence businesses (GEC-Marconi), to form BAE Systems which has tended to focus on the Anglo-American market. As a result, in 2000, DASA merged with Aerospatiale-Matra to form EADS. Further consolidation of the smaller defence firms cannot be ruled out.

In 2002 the formation of MBDA brought together the product portfolios of Aerospatiale Matra Missiles (of EADS), Alenia Marconi Systems missiles, and Matra BAe Dynamics to form Europe's No. 1 missile manufacturer and No. 2 globally after Raytheon.

Other major players include

• AgustaWestland
• BAE Systems
• Dassault Aviation
• Diehl BGT Defence
• Eurocopter
• Eurofighter International
• Finmeccanica
• Krauss-Maffei
• MBDA
• Rheinmetall
• Rolls-Royce
• Snecma
• Thales
• ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems

Products

Below are some examples of European products and the previously used weapons they may replace.

• A400M – replacing C-130 and Franco/German Transall
• Meteor – replacing AMRAAM as long-range AAM
• ASRAAM and IRIS-T – replacing AIM-9 Sidewinder as short-range AAM
• Eurofighter Typhoon – replacing F-4 Phantom II, F-16s, Tornado F.3
• Eurocopter Tiger – for France, Germany and Spain
• EH101 – largely replacing European helicopters
• NH90 – largely replacing European helicopters
• PzH 2000 – replacing M109 Paladin
• Leopard 2
• ATF Dingo
• Fennek
• GTK Boxer
• Horizon class frigate and FREMM multipurpose frigate both for the French and Italian navies
• Type 212 and Type 214 submarine, equipping the German, Greek and Italian navies.

There are several examples where one country continues to pursue purely national programmes because collaboration would be unacceptable or undesirable. For example both the UK and France continue to develop and operate independent nuclear deterrent. Likewise France's desire for military and industrial independence has motivated its continued pursuit of high-technology projects, e.g. Dassault Rafale.

Multinational programmes can fail because of disagreements about price or capability. For example while the UK terminated its collaboration with France and Italy on the next generation frigate (Horizon CNGF) and started a national Type 45 programme. However the warships will share some systems, primarily the MBDA Aster missile.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under pressure from President Bill Clinton to select Raytheon's future missile to arm the Eurofighter,¹ however the UK government selected the European Meteor air to air missile. The Meteor could be deemed riskier, however the Meteor armed Typhoon will not be subject to U.S. export controls and MBDA now has a missile product with no real competition from American manufacturers.^{citation needed}

Likewise European governments were actively dissuaded by the US Department of Defense from continuing the A400M project, the Pentagon argued that the Lockheed C-130J and Boeing C-17 provided all the capability European governments needed and was already flying.^{citation needed} The DOD also argued that to spend limited budgetary resources on such duplication was foolish. Continuing delays and lack of agreement in the A400M programme have however already caused the R.A.F. to purchase the Boeing C-17^{citation needed}.

The previous generation American fighter plane (F-16) was widely sold throughout Europe.^{citation needed}

See also

• OCCAR
• European Security and Defence Policy
• European Defence Agency

References

External links

• European Defence (UK NGO)
• The British Library - finding information on the defence industry (PDF file)

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 10 November 2008, at 01:21.

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