BAE Systems is the UK’s largest defence and security firm and one of the world’s major arms companies. It has changed from a state-owned aerospace firm to a privatised specialist defence company involved in a range of air, land, sea and cyber systems with a major presence in the US defence...

Collaborative defence projects have been a distinctive feature of European defence industrial policy. This article focuses on whether the number of partner nations in international collaborative defence and aerospace programmes is a source of inefficiency. It appears that there is not a simple...

The Single European Market seeks to eliminate the preferential public purchasing of civil goods and services. Article 223 of the Treaty of Rome allows exemptions for specifically military equipment but not for dual-use goods. This paper reviews evidence on whether Defence Ministries and the...

This paper analyses the demand and supply sides of the UK defence market, including the Ministry of Defence (MoD) role as a major buyer and the UK defence industrial base. It explains MoD's competitive procurement policy and evaluates its results, problems and future prospects.

We look at the different ways of aggregating the exports of dual use products to give the security perception of exporter countries and their consistency with the relevant export control regimes. Also, we analyze different models of export controls highlighting the role of the perception of...

What is the case for defence and is it a worthwhile investment? This question is addressed for two contrasting nations, namely, the UK and New Zealand. Economists have a set of standard analytical tools for addressing the question but they are difficult to operationalise. This paper provides...

Since 1945 the UK has changed from Great Power to leading nation status. The stylised facts are outlined and the determinants of UK defence spending are analysed using social welfare and public choice models. The military criteria for leading nation status are considered and the costs of such...

A benefit-cost framework and the associated evidence is used to evaluate UK arms exports. Two issues are examined in detail. First, trade externalities; and second, a case study of the problems and costs of maintaining the UK submarine industrial base without exports.