ABSTRACT
As East-West relations have continued to worsen in the 1980s, so the concern about the transfer of technology to the Soviet Union has grown. The fear that exports of Western technology might be enabling the Soviet Union to increase its military power was a particular cause of anxiety. The whole argument about technology transfer rests on the premise that the West enjoys a technological lead over the Soviet Union. The Soviet lag in technology creates an incentive to acquire technology from abroad, but the obstacles to indigenous innovation are likely also to hamper the assimilation and diffusion of foreign technology. Between 1941 and 1945 the Soviet Union once again received a major infusion of foreign technology, first from its allies through Lend-Lease, and then from Germany in the form of captured equipment, plant and skilled manpower. Foreign technology has made a substantial contribution to Soviet military power.
