A farewell to arms makers. (European defense industry)

Economist (US), The, November, 1997

European defense and aerospace companies find it hard to deal with their giant US counterparts, such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. It has been suggested that the bigger European firms merge to create an entity big enough to compete globally, though a consensus to do so remains elusive.

WHEN it comes to selling weapons, the closest allies are often bitter enemies. As large American aerospace and defence-electronics firms have merged into three mighty groups over the past decade, there has been talk, in Britain, Germany and even France, of creating a single European military-aircraft company to rival them. At bilateral meetings in the past few months Tony Blair, Lionel Jospin and Helmut Kohl have mooted the creation of a European champion. Wouldn't it be nice if...

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