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Military - in brief (6)

01 March 1999

EU: Push for rationalisation: European Union (EU) institutions indicated that they would press ahead with actions aimed at encouraging rationalisation of the European defence indus?try. The European parliament prepared to approve the thrust of an Action Plan for the industry proposed in late 1997 by the EU's executive commission following a wave of US defence industry mergers. European industry commissioner Bangemann said the commission would this year propose a number of fol?low-up measures on standardisation, public procurement, European-wide competitive bidding and rules on intra-EU trade and exports. In a related development the German government, holding the EU presidency in early 1999, said one of its objectives would be to transform the recently adopted EU code of conduct on arms exports into a legally binding measure. Jane's Defence Weekly 10.2.99.

UK/USA: BAe-GEC marriage a "bad move": Senior US Department of Defence officials believe the proposed merger of British Aero?space (BAe) and GEC's Marconi defence electronic unit will damage the European defence industrial base by reducing compe?tition. The deal would raise some of the same questions US officials faced when confronted by the proposed merger of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grunman last year. That deal was scuttled after the government objected on the grounds that the new company would have to create a share in certain key market sectors. The BAe/GEC merger means that for all practical purposes 90 to 95% of all British production is by one company. Jane's Defence Weekly 10.2.99.

Germany/US: MoD slams US collaboration: The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) regards the transatlantic "two-way street" in armaments cooperation as largely negative. In a report to parliament the MoD wrote that the expected balance has not been met. In 1995 Germany bought defence equipment worth US $400 million from the USA with the USA purchasing goods worth $200 million from Germany. Jane's Defence Weekly 10.3.99lo