Simple fact (The UK arms trade)

Member Name: a_sweeney

Product:	The UK arms trade
Date:	12/12/00 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Jobs, making Britian a viable trading centre

Disadvantages: Possible misuse

OK - I'll admit to being slightly biased here as I am considering entering the defence sector once I graduate, mainly as it is the best area in which to use my studies for research other than getting a PHd position.

The idea that technology and the weapons the government and various companies are selling breeds war is rather a long way off the mark. Looking at history it is in fact conflict that generates technological advances. Not just from the new weapons designed but also in medical sciences, in politics and humanitarian work.

The one biological fact is that man is prone to conflict. Look at any major city or town once the pubs close, and the major amounts of violent crime that occur on the street every day. This has even lead to the arming of the British police force and complete no-go areas for them in some cities. Throughout history man has been trying to come up with better ways to kill other people for whatever reason, going from a stone, sticks, swords, knives and guns to nuclear, chemical and biological agents.

War is of course wrong. It causes huge amounts of suffering and I for one believe the world would be better if there was no conflict at all. However that is honestly a dream. At any point in history there are at least 5 wars going on in different parts of the world, be they for food, territory, because someone's skin is different, or for whatever reason.

The companies that produce weapons are selling them into a highly competitive market place. They have to offer their products to as many places as possible to secure the contracts they need to firstly keep trading and secondly to employ the millions of people worldwide that they do. If you ask anyone within the industry, none of them actually want to see their product put into use anywhere, and the last people to actually want a war is the soldiers in the front lines themselves.

The competitive market means that British companies are having to form allia
nces with other countries; gone are the days of Britian producing weapons to actually defend itself. To produce any one of the products on sale from various British companies takes thousands of man hours, alliances with different countries/companies and it also takes a large quantity of technical knowhow that we do actually need.

Our own armed forces are becoming obsolete in terms of the equipment they are provided with. The army for instance has a firearm that honestly isn't worth a piece of paper once it is actually called into use; our own SAS even refuse to carry the thing preferring an American made weapon (M16), or even an old Russian weapon (AK47). The downfall of this is that the British companies trying to produce high-quality equipment to protect our own country and the people that are put in the front line can only produce these weapons by selling them to other countries. If we wish to at least make a contribution to the upkeep of our armed forces, and actually provide equipment that is up to the job in hand we must let our defence industry sell the products they can to other countries. Otherwise we will lose a large number of jobs, our armed forces will be equipped with the cheapest foriegn equipment to be found and we will no longer be such a major world trade centre. If we don't provide countries with military equipment they will go and buy it elsewhere; even our own government will do that if they can get something cheaper: ie the roll-on roll-off ferries being built in Germany for the Navy. The actual trade itself opens up the new level of technology available, and this will filter down to everyday life. Faster, smaller computers, GPS systems etc.

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