Weapons for Sale
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Weapons for sale Norman L. Dodd colonel UK Army, retired When, in the late fifties, the United Kingdom and includes directors of Market Research, Opera- abandoned National Service and reverted to the tional Requirements, and Sales and Supply. The concept of small voluntary professional armed latter provides information on prices and delivery services it fast became apparent that her equip- as well as after sales support. British Defence ment and weapon requirements by themselves Attachés play an important part in the sales would not be able to support a viable aircraft effort, not as direct salesmen but in identifying and armament industry. To attract suitable recruits the needs of the country to which they are accre- a considerable proportion of the defence vote had dited and drawing attention to suitable British to be spent on pay, allowances and accommoda- equipment. The Sales Organization publishes a tion, leaving insufficient for research, development manual listing British weapons and equipment and production. Somehow production lines would 'on offer' to assist attachés, and others, in their have to be kept running by sales outside the sales work. Mobile demonstration teams embarked United Kingdom. Unfortunately the captive mar- on a Royal Auxiliary ship have visited countries kets of the Empire and Commonwealth were dis- in the Persian Gulf and South America and, in appearing and, at the same time, there was con- June 1976, a large sales exhibition was held in siderable political feeling against arms sales. This Britain; this was attended by senior officers and was particularly so in the Labour party who have defence authorities from eighty countries. Such an always had a sizeable pacifist wing, one which exhibition showed that the Labour Government, considered it immoral to trade in 'weapons of perhaps through force of economie necessity, has death'. lost many of its inhibitions about arms sales. There are, however, controls on arms exports to By 1966 Britain's economie position in the world ensure that weapons do not get into the hands of was declining, unemployment was increasing and politically unacceptable regimes. Concurrently the cost of modern weapons was becoming astro- with the development of the Defence Sales Orga- nomie. The goverment decided that of necessity nization the British government has been at- the political problems of arms sales would have tempting to reduce weapon development and pro- to be faced. At that time each of the three Ser- duction costs by standardization and by negotiating vices had their own sales branches who were joint projects with other NATO countries. mainly concerned with the sale of surplus equip- ment, the products of the Royal Ordnance Fac- tories and over-age warships. The minister of Joint projects defence invited Sir Donald Stokes, then chairman of British Leyland Corporation, to advise on the In some ways the two operations are contradict- etablishment of a more professional sales orga- ory; too often Britain finds herself in direct com- nization whose task would be to obtain a better petition with one or more other countries develop- share of the world market for the British arm- ing similar equipments. However, in recent years ament industry. genuine efforts have been made by the British to He recommended the establishment of a Head of identify projects which can be developed jointly. Defence Sales to co-ordinate the sales efforts of Unfortunately this can only be done when the the three Services and the Royal Ordnance Fac- time scale and requirements coincide with that of tories, and to advise and assist civilian armament other NATO countries. Successful projects so f ar firms. The Defence Sales Organization now num- have been the Anglo/French Jaguar, the German/ bers four hundred civilians and military personnel British/Italian MRCA Tornado aircraft and the 356 German/British/Italian FH-70 howitzer. In these cases defence sales to non-participating countries are co-ordinated and shared with the other part- ners. Where joint production is not possible every attempt is made to insure that there is compatibi- lity with weapons and fittings of other NATO weapons of similar types. This in itself is a sales advantage. For instance the FH-70 will fire US 155 mm ammunition. Thriving on arms sales The United Kingdom's arms sales for the year 1976 are estimated to be in the region of £ 800 million; if this figure is reached it will make her the fourth largest exporter of arms in the world. Arms and military equipment which includes everything from aircraft to gas masks and from tanks to blood plasma. In a short article it is only Scorpion on exercises in Germany possible to discuss a few items, so some of the most successful army weapons have been chosen. moveinent rate. The probability of a first round These are the Chieftain Mk 5 main battle tank, hit on a moving teank at 2000 m is almost 100%, the Scorpion range of combat reconnaissance this accuracy extends to 3000 m against a sta- vehicles, the combat engineer tractor and barmine tionary target. The new HEAT round is effective layer, and the Swingfire, Blowpipe and Rapier against all Soviet tanks at 3000 m. missiles. The Mark 5 Chieftain is powered by a completely new 12 cylinder Rolls Royce diesel engine which Tanks develops 100 bhp per cylinder. The weight remains at around 55 tons and the same huil is The Mark 5 Chieftain is a much improved version used for a bridge laying tank and for the of the earlier Chieftains in use by the British armoured recovery vehicle. Army in Germany. They have been developed by the Military Vehicle Engineering Establishment Recce vehicles and Vickers Ltd, and they are currently built by the Royal Ordnance Factories. The Iranian Army The Scorpion range of Combat Vehicles Tracked have ordered 1200 Mark 5s; they will incorporate was developed for operations in Western Europe the new British 'Chobham' armour. This armour by the British in conjunction with the Belgian is claimed to be the single most significant de- Army. The range have proved to be such excellent velopment in the design of the tank since World vehicles that they are in demand elsewhere. The War H. It is said to be able to withstand a hit Scorpion itself is basically a fast light tank armed from any type of anti-tank shell or missile in with an effective 76 mm gun with HESH, HE, anti- service today. The tank armament includes the personnel canister and smoke ammunition. A 7.62 120 mm rifled gun, a 12.7 mm machine gun and mm machine gun is mounted co-axially. The a co-axially mounted 7.62 mm machine gun. vehicle weighs 7.8 tons, it is powered by a Jaguar Marconi Space and Defence Systems have de- six cylinder gasoline engine of 195 bhp and is veloped a very effective fire control system for highly manoeuvreable; the maximum speed is in the main armament. This includes data handling, excess of 70 kph and it can accelerate from O to sighting and sensor sub-systems as well as a new 48 kph in 16 seconds. The armour is made from gun control system. Wind and air density sensors a type of aluminium alloy, lighter than steel but are fitted plus image intensifier night sights. A proof against small arms fire and shell fragments. fully automatic digital computer is used to process The turret has a 360 degree traverse, the tracks the information gained by a laser range-finder. So are rubber padded and the pressure on ground is 'ong as the gunner keeps the sight on the target only 5 Ibs per sq inch. One set of tracks should the system will produce the range and exact target run for a minimum of 4800 km. The cross country 357 performance is excellent because the vehicle not only has the power but also has a seven speed gearbox which operates in forward or reverse. The Scorpion is air portable and two can be carried in a C130 aircraft; a flotation screen can be fitted round the huil to give it an amphibious capability. There is a three man crew. Other variants of the Scorpion include the Scimitar, which carries the 30 mm Karden anti- APC cannon instead of the 76 mm gun, and the Striker which is designed to carry five Swingfire anti-tank missiles in their launchers on the huil and five more spare missiles inside the vehicle; it also carries a 7.62 mm machine gun and two Lyran target illuminating launchers. There are also armoured command posts, personnel carriers, armoured ambulances and recovery vehicles va- riants, all based upon the same huil, engine and running gear. The Scorpion range are in service with the British and Belgian armies and already of which is explosive charge. There are few metal sales overseas have topped £ 24 million. parts, the mines are supplied in pallet crates each holding 72. Engineer equipment The Ranger system of laying anti-personnel mines will be used in conjunction with the Barmine The British Royal Engineers have a 'winner' in layer. The Ranger consists of 72 tubes on a their FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor (CET). It launcher which can be mounted on almost any has undergone successful trials and is now in vehicle. The launcher can be traversed through production. The CET is designed for operations 360 degrees and elevated or depressed. Each tube in the forward areas and can fulfil a wide variety holds 18 mines, a completely loaded system carries of roles. Besides the usual dozer it has a light 1296 ready for 'firing'. Two men can replace the alloy bucket which can excavate at a rate of 300 72 tubes in about five minutes.