Towards Rationalizing Allied Weapons Production

Few defense issues receive more hortatory attention than the need for "standardization" in NATO, yet with few is it as difficult to achieve real progress. The value of this study is that it faces squarely the conceptual differences between a "European" or "Atlantic" approach toward weapons cooperation, suggesting how they need not be incompatible. Compared to the Callaghan Report's argument for a "two-way street," this AIIA paper is more analytical, more realistic, and hence more persuasive. The tough problems in making the purchase of foreign arms acceptable in the U.S. still need more attention.