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Guns and growth: Europe should ensure to develop defense tech, weapons at home instead of buying from the U.S. to boost economy, researchers say (www.ifw-kiel.de)

submitted 1 week ago by randomname@scribe.disroot.org to c/europe@feddit.org

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Here is the study (available in English and German).

Increased defense spending could significantly boost Europe’s economic growth and industrial base if outlays are targeted at high-tech, regionally made armaments. A new Kiel Report by the Kiel Institute shows that gross domestic product (GDP) could increase by 0.9 percent to 1.5 percent per year if governments raised annual defense spending from the NATO target of 2 percent to 3.5 percent of GDP and shifted from buying weapons designed and mainly made in the USA to home-grown innovations.

...

The debate about Europe's ability to defend itself took on new urgency after Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022. Many countries increased military budgets, with EU spending falling just short of NATO's target of 2 percent of GDP in 2024. But NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has noted that Europe spent ”well over 3 percent” during the Cold War—and US President Donald Trump has even proposed a new target of 5 percent.

...

Most importantly, European governments should ensure that more defense spending ultimately stays within the region. Around 80 percent of defense procurement currently comes from suppliers outside the European Union. But only domestic production can generate the so-called technological spillovers to other industries and productivity gains that make defense spending generate significant economic activity with each euro spent.

”If Europe could develop the next generation of defense tech and other weapons at home instead of buying them from the US, the economic effects of additional defense spending could go far beyond short-term fiscal multiplier effects and boost growth in the medium term,” says Moritz Schularick, President of the Kiel Institute. ”An increase in European defense spending from just under 2 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent would currently cost around 300 euros billion per year—but the study suggests this sum could also generate a similar amount of additional economic activity, if properly spent on developing European capabilities.”

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[–] Ziggurat@fedia.io 14 points 1 week ago

No shit Sherlock.

However, it requires general of every country to avoid coming with their own exotic requirement, see the A400M or the Eurofighter and now the next-gen-fighter jet where French and German keep playing against each other to lead the program