IMI-Aktuell 2015/274
Tücken der Konsolidierung (2)
(02.06.2015)
Nicht nur in Deutschland mehren sich die Stimmen, dass ein zu sehr auf wenige Großkonzerne konzentrierter Rüstungsmarkt womöglich überhaupt nicht die stets versprochenen Effizienzgewinne bringt (IMI-Aktuell 2015/232). Bei Augengeradeaus jedenfalls wird aus einem Artikel des britischen Telegraph zitiert, der ebenfalls reichlich ernüchtert ist: „So that’s it then: Britain’s just a third-class power. And yet our defence budget is the fifth biggest in the world. It’s around the same as that of France, and France has a proper aircraft carrier – complete with planes. France also has hundreds of operational strike jets, not scores; it has maritime-patrol planes; its army may soon have twice as many soldiers as ours. Why don’t we have all that? The answer is, mostly, the British defence industry. Dominated by BAE Systems, our arms industry is lamentably inefficient. Its products are often horrifyingly expensive. They require parts and technical support not only from the US but other nations too – we gain no independence by purchasing ‘British-made’ kit like the Eurofighter. (The Eurofighter cannot be sold without American permission as it is full of US technology.) If, instead, we simply bought off the shelf, mostly from America, we could easily afford powerful forces.” (jw)