The Relations between Defence and Civil Technologies

308 Pages·1988·9.67 MB·English

by  Philip Gummett, Judith Reppy (auth.), Philip Gummett, Judith Reppy (eds.)

The Relations between Defence and
Civil Technologies
NATO ASI Series
Advanced Science Institutes Series
ASeriespresenting theresultsof activitiessponsored by the NATOScience Committee.
which aims at the dissemination ofadvancedscientific and technologicalknowledge.
with a view tostrengthening links between scientific communities.
TheSeriesispublished by an international board of publishersinconjunctionwith
the NATOScientificAffairsDivision
A Life Sciences PlenumPublishing Corporation
B Physics London and NewYork
C Mathematical KluwerAcademic Publishers
and Physical Sciences Dordrecht, Bostonand London
D Behavioural and Social Sciences
E Applied Sciences
F Computer and Systems Sciences Springer-Yerlag
G Ecological Sciences Berlin, Heidelberg. NewYork,London,
H Cell Biology ParisandTokyo
Series D: Behavioural and Social Sciences -Vol, 46
The Relations between Defence
and Civil Technologies
edited by
Philip Gummett
DepartmentofScienceandTechnologyPolicy,
UniversityofManchester,U.K.
and
Judith Reppy
Peace StudiesProgramme,
Cornell University, U.S.A.
"~.
Springer-Science-Business Media, B.Y.
PublishedincooperationwithNATOScientificAffairs Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced ResearchWorkshop on
The Relationship between Defence and CivilTechnologies
Wiston House,Sussex, U.K.
21-25 September, 1987
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
NATO Advanced Research Workshop on the Relat:nnship between Defence
and Civil Technologies (1987 : Steyning. England)
The relations between defence and civil technologies ! edIted by
Philip Gummett and Jud ith Reppy.
p. em. -- (NATO ASI series. Series D. Behavioural and social
sciences ; vol . 46)
"Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on the
Relationship between Defence and Civi l Technologies. Wiston House.
Sussex. UK. 21-25 September. 1987"--T.p. verso.
"Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division."
IncIudes bibIiographies and jndex.
1. Research. Industrial--Congresses. 2. r~iIitary research
-Congresses. 1. Gummett. Philip. II. Reppy. Judith. 1937
III. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. ScientifIc Affairs
Division. IV. Title. V. SerIes: NATO ASI series. Series D.
Behavioural and social sciences ; no. 46.
T175.N296 1987
355 .07--dcI9 88-13473
CIP
ISBN978-90-481-8312-8 ISBN978-94-015-7803-5(eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-94-015-7803-5
All Rights Reserved
©Springer Science+BusinessMediaDordrecht 1988
OriginallypublishedbyK1uwerAcademicPublishersin1988.
Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition1988
No part ofthe materialprotected by thiscopyright noticemay be reproduced orutilized
inanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,recording
or by any information storage and retrievalsystem,without written permission from the
copyright owner.
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Philip Gummett and Judith Reppy
PART 1: CONCEPTS, APPROACHES, MEASUREMENT 15
CHAPTER 1. From components to integrated systems: 17
Technological diversity and integrations between
the military and civilian sectors.
William Walker, Mac Graham and Bernard Harbor.
CHAPTER 2. Spin-off: a fundamentalist approach. 38
Ulrich Albrecht.
CHAPTER 3. Some views on industry perspectives on 58
civil and military R&D.
Antony Clementson.
CHAPTER 4. Assessing the impact of federal 68
industrial R&D expenditure on private R&D
activity in the United States.
Frank R. Lichtenberg.
CHAPTER 5. Technology and Trade: Does military 88
R&D make a difference?
Judith Reppy.
CHAPTER 6. The relationship between military and 106
civil technology: a historical perspective.
David Edgerton.
PART 2: COUNTRY STUDIES 115
CHAPTER 7. Interdiffusion of military and civil 117
technologies in the United States of America.
Alexander H. Flax
CHAPTER 8. The need - and opportunity - for greater 138
integration of defence and civil technologies in the
United States.
Jacques S. Gansler
CHAPTER 9. Civilian exploitation of defence R&D in 159
the UK.
N. H. Hughes.
CHAPTER 10. A UK initiative for the transfer of 166
technologies from defence to civil sector.
Bernard Herdan.
emphasisingthe
dimensionsthat
civiltechnology.
CHAPTER 11. The relationship between defence and 180
civil technologies: policy of the French Ministry
of Defence.
S. Bindel
CHAPTER 12. Foreign technology and local innovation: 190
some lessons from Spanish defence industry experience.
Jose Molero.
CHAPTER 13. Recent trends in R&D in Italy and in 213
military R&D in particular
G. Graziola and M. Nones
CHAPTER 14. A small country perspective: military- 227
civil technological relations in the Netherlands.
Michiel Schwarz and Luc Soete
PART 3. INDIVIDUAL TECHNOLOGIES 241
CHAPTER 15. Determinants of spin-off in the context 243
of SDI: the VHSIC programme.
Bernd W. Kubbig
CHAPTER 16. Adaptation of new technology: the case 259
of servo technology in Norway 1947-1956.
Olav Wicken
CHAPTER 17. Defence - civil relations in the 277
development of new materials technology in Britain.
Philip Gummett and lain Bate
PARTICIPANTS 296
INDEX 301
PREFACE
This book arises from a meeting held at Wiston House,
Sussex, UK, in September 1987. The meeting brought together
academic, governmental and industrial experts from eight
countries to discuss the increasingly important sUbject of the
relations between civil and defence technologies. It was
primarily funded under the Advanced Research Workshops
Programme of NATO's Scientific Affairs Division, and was the
first science policy workshop funded by the Programme.
Additional financial support came from the Leverhulme Trust.
The choice of topic, of speakers and, finally, of papers to
be published was entirely ours. The conclusions reached were
our own and those of the partIcipants. They were not in any
way guided by NATO; nor do they represent NATO policy.
We speak for all the participants in offering our thanks to
the NATO SCIentific Affairs Division, especially Secretary
General Durand and Dr. Craig Sinclair, for rnei r- generosity
and encouragement. WIthout them this book would not exist.
We thank the Leverhulme Trust for enabling assistance to be
provided to the Workshop Directors, in the form of lain Bate,
who himself played a major part in the success of the meeting.
The staff of Wiston House must also be thanked for prOViding
an admirable environment for the meeting.
For secretarial support prior to the meeting we thank Gill
Miller and Lesley Price. Finally, we offer special thanks to
Mrs. Yvonne Aspinall for converting all the papers, in
whatever state they were presented, into camera-ready copy
with such professionalism and gOOd humour.
Philip Gummett
Judith Reppy
vii
INTRODUCTION
PHILIP GUMMETT, MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY, UK: and
JUDITH REPPY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, USA.
THE CONTEXT
Technology is becoming ever more crucial for economic
competitiveness. While earlier European fears of the
"Amert ca.n challenge" were being replaced on both sides of the
Atlantic by concern over Japanese industrial performance,
awareness was growing in all industrialised countries about
the need for a healthy, growing technology base. An important
element of this awareness has been the attention paid to the
relationship between civil and defence technology. The
relationship is problematic for several reasons, not least the
fact that whereas most large industrialised nations spend
heavily on military research and development programmes, Japan
spends very little.
The issues raised tend to have particular force in relation
to certain generic technologies, that is, technologies that
have broad applicability across many industries. Examples are
electronics, information technology, and new materials such as
composites and ceramics. In some countries there is concern
that the strong military interest in these technologies, and
other technologies of strategic importance, has impeded the
development of a commercially successful technology base. The
concern is sometimes expressed in terms of the direction that
technological development has followed when funded by military
rather than commercially-oriented institutions. In other
cases the focus of concern has been the alleged drain of
scarce skilled people into military work. Yet another focus
has been the claim that, in a period of economic restraint,
government spending on research and development (R&D) has to
be organised to yield the maximum possible national economic
benefit . Counter-arguments have emphasised the benefits to
the civil economy of military support of certain technologies.
These questions have all been on the agenda of, for example,
the British Cabinet's Advisory Council on Science and
Technology and led in 1987 to steps to constrain, albeit
modestly, spending on UK defence R&D.
At the same time, there has been increased military concern
about how to manage the rising cost and complexity of military
equipment. The rate of inflation for military gOOds is well
known to be higher than that for the rest of the economy.
emphasisingthe
dimensionsthat
civiltechnology.
P.GwnmettandJ,Reppy(eds.),TheRelationsbetweenDefenceandCivilTechnologies.1-14.
©1988byKluwerAcademicPublishers.
2
Each gener-at t on of equipmen"t cost s more "than at s predecessor
(in par-t because of great.er comptexat y and sophistica"tion) ,
and in consequence is purchased in smaller numbers. The long
lead-times of major milit.ary svst ems st t uneasily wi"th "the
rapid rate of obsolescence of modern eLect ronLcs , with "the
resul"t "tha"t new weapons pla"tforms either suffer delays because
of re-design, or risk deploymen"t with elec"tronic and compu"ter
ayst ema t nat lag nent nd "the st at e of "the art in civilian
terms. Pressure has grown, espec1ally in Europe, for ant er>
company and in"ternational collabora"tion in defence developmen"t
and procuremen"t, part Ly to spread "the cost s and risks, and
par"tly "to gain access "to a wider se"t of skills "than any single
company can hope "to have wi"thin i"tself. This in "turn raises
ques"tions abou"t "the managemen"t of an increasingly complex
defence indus"trial base.
These ques"tions, coupled With "the issues of compe"titiveness
and of domination of particular civilian mar-ket s by Japan,
have led "to concern about "the maant.enance of sound defence
industrial capaci"ties. This concern may it set r st em from
doub"tS abou"t "the s"treng"th of "the civ11 indus"trial and
technological base wi"thin which defence activi"ty is embedded.
ThUS, in "the Uni"ted Sta"tes, there has been much deba"te abou"t
"the possible influence of "the defence indus"trial base upon "the
economy as a Whole, and also abou"t "the problems of main"taining
an independen"t US elec"tronics indus"try, able "to guaran"tee
support "to "the defence sec"tor, in "the face of increasing
Japanese domination of electronics. From this perspective,
the question is not so much one of the impact of defence
interests upon civil technology, bu"t ra"ther of how to
safeguard the civil teChnological base as a necessary
founda"tlon for defence purposes.
It was against this background that we held the meeting from
which this book stems. Participants were carefully chosen to
be able to present governmental, industrial and academic
perspectives from a number of countries. The aim of the
meeting was to explore, in a reasonably systematic and non
polemical fashion, the links between defence and civil
technological advance, and the policy questions that these
links raise. We hoped to escape from the polarisation and
over-simplification that have dogged much of this debate in
the past, and to aim instead for a more synoptic view, one
rich in its attention to detail and in its recognition of the
compleXity of the SUbject, but that would be seriously
analytical at a number of levels and would indicate some
directions for further work.
We present in the remainder of this Introduction our own
conclusions from the meet ang, We have tried to summarise
important points of common unders"tanding as well as the many
dimensions of the issue that require careful differentiation.
We must emphasise that these are our conclusions as organisers
and editors; they do not necessarily represent the views of
any indiVidual participant. For those, readers must consult
3
the succeeding Chapters, which are revised versions of papers
presented at the meeting.
CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES
Most analyses of the relationship between defence and civil
technology have focused largely on the questions of the
opportunity cost to the civil economy of allocating resources
to military R&D programmes and on the extent of diffusion or
"spin-off" of technology from military to civil applications.
As Albrecht points out in his chapter, however, these analyses
have been inconclusive, owing to conceptual and methodological
inadequacies and to the difficulty of providing empirical
verification.
Strictly speaking, there is an opportunity cost associated
with any use of a resource, given full employment and an
alternative use for the resource. But this general statement,
drawn from economics, is not particularly helpful in analysing
policy questions concerning military and civil R&D. Private
firms may adopt investment strategies that shift resources
between defence and ciVil R&D programmes, but the same is not
true for government departments. For institutional and
political reasons budgetary trade-offs are mUCh more likely to
be between R&D and other programmes in the same department,
rather than between R&D programmes across departments. ThUS,
although the concept of opportunity cost expresses one truth
about military R&D spending, it does not in itself lead to
realistic pollcy prescriptions: money not spent for weapons
development is not readily available for civil R&D programmes.
Spin-off is the other concept that has structured the debate
over spending on military technology. If the civil sector
reaps benefits from military R&D through the infusion of new
technologies from the military sector, then the costs of the
mi1i tary programmes are to some degree, pernaps to a large
degree, offset. But spin-off, which pOSits a simple dichotomy
between military and civil sectors, does not capture the
complexities of the relationship between defence ana civil
technologies. It is not just that technology flows may take
place in either direction - that is widely recognised in the
literature - but that a more detailed taxonomy is needed if we
are to make any sense of the varIegated pattern of technology
transfer.
In addition to the cases of 'pure' military or 'pure' civil
technologies, there is a large class of mixed or dual-use
technologies, which are nourished by a common technology base.
Indeed, the variety of institutional and market structures in
the civil sector may make it more appropriate to refer to
"multiple-use" technologies. Most new technology at the
generic level falls into this class, as well as most of
society's existing stock of technical knowledge, accrued over
time. The difficulty of differentiating miHtary from ciVil