ABSTRACT
One of the problems facing academic study of arms collaboration is the dearth of empirical evidence attesting to the validity of the cost savings thesis. A major difficulty in obtaining data has regard to the counterfactual element in the comparative framework; that is, once a decision has been taken to collaboratively develop and produce a weapons system then cost data on the alternative national production option automatically becomes unavailable. Under such conditions evaluation of collaborative cost-savings have necessarily to be reduced to rough approximations of national production costs of ‘similar’ equipment types. A clearly hazardous exercise.
