ABSTRACT
Defence industries contribute to a nation's defence capability. It is claimed that they provide military, strategic and economic benefits. Nations differ with some not having a defence industrial base, whilst others have a small-scale industry offering repair and maintenance facilities or supplying ammunition and small arms, whilst some have a large-scale defence industry providing a range of high technology air, land and sea equipment (e.g. aircraft carriers; combat aircraft; missiles; tanks). Within the world market, there are examples of defence industries of varying sizes and scope in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, India, Israel, Japan, North and South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa and the USA (see Chapters 9 and 10). The variety of defence industries in terms of size and scope needs to be explained, including those nations which prefer to import all their defence equipment. These issues will be assessed through a case study of the UK defence industrial base.
