Britain’s “Anti-US” Procurement Policies – and the Future Dynamics of Global Procurement

MBDA Storm Shadowlaunch from Mirage 2000 Political efforts are underway to integrate the European defense industry. As one might expect, these efforts are most politically controversial in Britain, which has substantial defense industry ties to the USA as well. A recent article in The Sunday Telegraph illustrates some of the political tensions and procurement issues that must inevitably accompany these efforts. It highlights broader trends that will accompany these integration efforts throughout Europe. In an article entitled “You can’t spin away the wasted billions, Mr Ingram,” Christopher Booker accuses Adam Ingram, the British Minister for Armed Forces, of wasting billions of pounds in a surreptitious efforts to integrate Britain’s armed forces with those of the European Union via acquisition policies that discriminate against British and American alternatives: “Mr Ingram claimed that any company, US, British or European, is free to bid for the Ministry of Defence’s equipment contracts, and that “ultimately, contractors are chosen on the basis of value for money for the UK taxpayer”. This is blatantly contradicted by several of the contracts I have reported, where superior US or British equipment has been rejected in favour of contractors from other EU countries. Even Mr Ingram’s claim that MoD […]