ABSTRACT
This chapter arises from an ESRC-funded project on the impact of new conventional weapon technologies on the inward - procurement - face of defence policy. It is more of a plan of campaign than a report of results achieved, and should be read alongside Chapter 2. One basic concern of the project is to throw light on the tendency for the cost of important items of military equipment developed in the United Kingdom to get out of hand. The NIMROD (British AWACS) and the STINGRAY torpedo are prominent current examples. Less sensationally, there is the well-known tendency for virtually every new generation of weapon to turn out in real terms at anywhere between two and four times the cost of its generational predecessor.
