Crucial pockets of technological and manufacturing excellence could
be wiped out forever by cutbacks in defence spending prompted by improved
relations between East and West. Job losses in the defence industry could
accelerate, halving today鈥檚 workforce of 600 000 by the year 2000.
These stark warnings appear in a report on diversification published
last week by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, a politically
neutral advisory service for MPs. The defence industry employs almost one-third
of Britain鈥檚 most highly qualified engineers and scientists. 鈥楾he cost of
not intervening is widespread job losses among people we can ill afford
to lose in this country, and an even more devastating effect on our manufacturing
industry, particularly in electronics and computing,鈥� says Anne Campbell,
Labour MP for Cambridge, and a member of the board of POST.
The report warns that the effects of cutbacks on the major defence contractors
will ripple outwards, hitting the supply companies that provide parts and
technological expertise. Suppliers one or two steps along the chain may
not even realise that they are contributing to defence work and may be hit
unexpectedly by cutbacks, it cautions.
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鈥楾here is much ignorance over what capabilities are located where in
the subcontractor network, with the result that the consequences of cuts
cannot be foreseen,鈥� says the report.
One proposed remedy, backed by the Labour and Liberal parties, is the
creation of a Defence Diversification Agency that would help defence companies
to redirect their efforts towards civilian products and emerging areas of
defence work, such as antiterrorist technology and satellite verification
systems to ensure compliance with peace treaties.
鈥極ur partners in France and the US are actively deciding which technologies
to preserve,鈥� says Campbell. 鈥楾he first job of a Defence Diversification
Agency would be to identify critical technologies we must preserve for future
defence needs, and generic technologies of critical importance both to
the defence and the civil sectors.鈥�
The report criticises the government鈥檚 lack of a strategic overview
and blames this partly on poor liaison between the Ministry of Defence and
the Department of Trade and Industry. It notes, for example, that the MoD
has spent only 拢3.25 million of 拢35 million allocated to the
DTI鈥檚 Link scheme to foster collaborative research between industry and
academia.
In future, says the POST report, the MoD should spend more on research
into generic technologies that are of equal value to defence and civil applications.
The new Office of Science and Technology could play a coordinating role,
or assume responsibility for funds which would be allocated for research
of interest to both the MoD and the DTI.
鈥楧iversification is not easy, but defence contractors will continue
to lay off people and contract rather than diversify into new areas of work
unless they are given a boost by the government,鈥� says Campbell.
