Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

Arming NATO's partners

01 November 1994

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

The United States and other NATO members are planning major arms transfers to selected Central and Eastern European countries - Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This development is being implicitly encouraged by the terms set out in NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) and a new US law - the NATO Participation Act - signed by President Clinton in November. This Act, which is intended to "assist the transition to full NATO membership', links PfP and arms transfers. The four countries are recognised under the Act for the transfer of excess defence equipment and aid under the Foreign Military Financing Programme.

These "Partners" have already begun upgrading their existing equipment to meet the standards of Western technology especially in the areas of electronics and communications. The Pentagon has announced that excess F-16 aircraft are available for transfer to Poland; the Czech Republic has asked Belgium for 24 F-16's and is seeking US help to upgrade the army's T-72 tanks; in September the US Air Force delivered an identification "friend-or-foe" system to Hungary.

One effect of these arms transfers will be to encourage an increase in arms exports from the four countries to finance the modernisation of their military forces - the Czech Republic is planning to export recently decommissioned MIG-29 fighter planes.

BASIC Papers no 6, December 1994; AMOK, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

Spain: Campaign against military service

Next article 

UK: Criminal Justice Act

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy