Debates on many aspects of defence economics - on the scale of defence expenditure, on the allocation of that expenditure to various military capabilities, and on the selection of equipment offering the best value for money - are bedevilled by misunderstandings and misconceptions about the costs...

This paper notes that the outcome of military operations is determined largely by the relative performance of the equipment deployed by rival forces. In this competitive situation, the performance and unit cost of key weapon systems tend to increase rapidly and persistently. Furthermore,...

Developments within the UK in the Ministry of Defence's policy on defence equipment acquisition demand changes in the scale and allocation of the Ministry's budget for defence research. To facilitate the national debate on those changes, this paper reviews the key questions about UK defence...