The Role of Military Exports in Maintaining the Defense Industrial Base

Abstract

As the DoD reduces spending for military equipment and services, companies in the U.S. defense industrial base may attempt to replace a portion of lost domestic revenues with military export sales. This report examines the potential size of the export market for military exports and discusses whether that market is large enough to replace a substantial portion of the business base lost due to declining U.S. defense spending. Currently the U.S. exports $18 billion of military items annually; about 75 percent comes from new production and 25 percent comes from inventory. If U.S. manufacturers hope to replace all business lost due to defense budget declines in order to maintain 1991 levels of defense business, they cannot merely maintain current export levels but must increase exports substantially each year for the next several years. The authors argue that increasing military exports substantially is unlikely for a number of reasons and conclude that, at best, military exports will be sustained at current levels.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA263644

Entities

People

  • Donna J. Peterson
  • Ronald L. Straight

Organizations

  • LMI

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Budgets
  • Commerce
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electronic Equipment
  • Foreign Military Sales
  • Government (Foreign)
  • Governments
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Education
  • Military Equipment
  • National Security
  • Production
  • Security
  • Standards
  • Test Equipment

Fields of Study

  • Economics

Readers

  • Economics
  • International Relations and European Studies