ABSTRACT
One of the Kremlin's most closely guarded secrets, kept not only from the outside world but also from the Soviet public, is the true cost of defense. There was general acceptance in the West during the early 1970s that Soviet defense costs were somewhat less than 6 percent of the gross national product. A number of Soviet dissidents argue that over 40 percent of the Soviet gross national product goes for military purposes. Soviet categories of defense expenditures cannot be "mirror-imaged" with those of the United States. Many Western economists examine and compare the two basic sectors of the Soviet economy: the "A sector," which produces for military use and the "B sector," which supports the civilian economy. The nature of the Soviet military-industrial complex and the true cost of Soviet defense have defied Western analysts for decades. Buildup of the Soviet arnaments industry was one of the major reasons for the Soviet drive to industrialize its entire economy.
