ABSTRACT
Leading states are those arms producers who have the resources to pursue high levels of R & D (research and development) so as to keep themselves at the 'leading-edge' of the constant process of military technological revolution. They can thus maintain a 'qualitative' edge over the following states.9 Indeed, they have to retain such an edge if they are to preserve their 'power position and/or their security' in the prevailing international system.10 In such a situation the following states, which are usually only 'non-' or 'part-producers', are faced with a fairly stark choice. They have either to improve the worth of their existing weapons or accept a relative decline in capability.11 Where some form of inter-state rivalry exists there will be a marked reluctance to see the emergence of a technological capability gap. The ability of such following states to upgrade, irrespective of whether they are producers or non-producers, is aided considerably by the fact that the leading states (in this case acting as suppliers) often have rationales for 'pumping qualitative advances back into the pipeline through the mechanism of arms aid and sales.'12 As a consequence, the arms trade 'sets a high, and continuously rising, global standard of military technology.'13
