ABSTRACT
Controlling rather than overtly encouraging, European governments have had little influence in shaping the emerging macro defence–industrial structure. Instead, corporate pressures have provided the impulse. The search has been for bigness. This goal being pursued through acquisition, merger, technical relationships, and, indirectly, collaborative programmes. But what are the reasons lying behind this rash of consolidation moves? Are they desirable in the economic sense? Do the arguments concerning synergy and military-to-civil spin-offs stand-up to empirical investigation? Is the restructuring of Europe's defence–industrial base likely to lead to a “hollow triangle” effect, whereby middle-ranking defence contractors are squeezed out of the market? Is there a role for Europe's defence developing nations in the increasingly sophisticated scale conscious European defence market?
