ABSTRACT
The use of offsets has become a common practice in the international arms trade. Today almost all countries demand offsets for their major arms import programs. This is the consequence of changing supplier-buyer relationships on the international arms market. Export pressures due to the continuously accelerating cost of advanced weapon systems during the past three to four decades have since the end of the cold war been reinforced by the decline in domestic demand for military equipment in the main arms producing countries. Arms producing companies are outbidding each other in offering attractive offset packages as a method of competition on the international arms market, and the buyer governments are using their leverage to obtain optimally beneficial offset packages.
