ABSTRACT
Through years of intensive investment, the former Soviet Union developed the world’s largest defense-industrial base with 3,000 to 5,000 production facilities and a work force of 7–10 million people. The sector included about 150 major final assembly plants, thousands of component and material production facilities, and more than 1,500 research, development, and test facilities. In addition to producing weapons and other military equipment, the former Soviet defense industry also produced a significant quantity of producer durables, such as computers, machine tools, tractors, and consumer goods, including washing machines, televisions, radios, VCRs, and other products. Defense-industrial production was heavily concentrated in Russia and Ukraine, with the rest scattered among the remaining states.
The breakup of the Soviet Union has severely disrupted the defense industry; each of the former republics is faced with determining what weapon production infrastructure it requires and how best to utilize the rest. Production and final assembly of major weapon systems and military equipment takes place in five of the newly independent states: Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. The Baltic countries and four other states—Belarus, 784Moldova, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan—are suppliers of military electronics and key weapon system components. Two states—Armenia and Azerbaijan—produce only minor components, and one state—Turkmenistan—has no identified defense production. Almost all of the newly independent states have announced their intention to downsize their defense industries and convert a large part of the present capacity to civil production. Most have yet to resolve the size and scope of the defense industries they wish to maintain and how to compensate for the loss or potential loss of access to input from other—now independent—states.
