Notes / ARES Group - The Armament Industry European Research Group
6 September 2017
Defence Industrial Links Between the EU and the US
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Jean Belin
Associate Professor, Chaire Economie de défense
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Keith Hartley
Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of York
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Senior Research Fellow, IRIS
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Hilmar Linnenkamp
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, SWP
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Martin Lundmark
Associate Professor in Military technology, Swedish Defence College
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Hélène Masson
Senior Research Fellow, FRS
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Deputy Director, IRIS
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Alessandro R. Ungaro
Research Fellow, IAI
The European Commission’s initiatives in the field of armament should lead to a deeper integration of European DTIBs in the coming years. In parallel, the links between European and American DTIBs take the form of technological and armament cooperation, and of capital links between European or American companies. This report aims at analysing the links between the US DTIB and the EU DTIB, and the consequences these links carry on cooperation between European DTIBs.
These links vary by country. France has strived to preserve its strategic autonomy when developing its DTIB. Its technological and capability-related reliance on the United States has thus remained limited. Nonetheless, cooperation is sought when it is mutually beneficial while French companies seek to invest in the US market, as do other European DTIBs.
The German DTIB was rebuilt belatedly after World War II, partly on the basis of French-German cooperation. German industry is now privatised and the scope of the German DTIB’s partnerships has widened to other European countries and to the US. The German supply chain is now well established in American armament programmes…