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- Title
The Determinants of Weapons Acquisitions in the United States.
- Authors
Cholawsky, Elizabeth Mary
- Abstract
"The Determinants of Weapons Acquisitions in the United States" investigates the decision to produce new weapon systems or to cancel production prior to deployment. The most inf luential factors on the acquisition or cancellation of the new system are specified. The determining variables include Service support, technological momentum, defense industry pressure, international arms races, and global conflict. The domain of cases for the research is significant U.S. weapon systems in the post-World War II period. Two methods are used to assess the influence of determining factors on procurements and nonprocurements. The first method is a focused, comparative case study of nine U.S. weapon acquisition decisions. Four of the nine case histories are nonprocurements--the F-111B, the B-1, the MBT-70, and the Sentinel Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) system. The remaining five cases are positive procurements, including the F-15, the Trident submarine system, the Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), the Safeguard ABM, and the M-1 tank. The second methodology is a quantitative time-series model of all U.S. procurements and nonprocurements since 1951. The variables in the model are Soviet weapons procurement, Congressional and public attitudes towards defense spending, technological momentum, U.S. arms sales, inter-Service rivalry, Gross National Product (GNP), and global conflict. The qualitative case history approach showed that domestic influences were most important for determining both a positive and negative acquisition decision. In particular, Service support and promotion of the system was nearly essential, but inter-Service rivalries and the efficiencies of cost, technology, and schedule were also important. The time-series model showed that different influences determine a positive procurement decision versus a negative decision. Domestic factors are most important for positive procurements, although Soviet acquisition influences strategic positive procurements. International factors are most influential on negative acquisition. Both approaches showed the influences on negative decisions to be more immediate and direct than on positive procurement decisions, where influencing factors usually only affected the decision after some time lag.
- Subjects
UNITED States; WEAPONS; DEPLOYMENT (Military strategy); DEFENSE Acquisition University (U.S.); CRUISE missiles; WORLD War II
- Publication
Defense Acquisition Research Journal: A Publication of the Defense Acquisition University, 2017, Vol 24, Issue 4, p734
- ISSN
2156-8391
- Publication type
Article