Arms Industry Research Articles

Human Rights Due Diligence for Arms Companies: Lessons from Supply Chain Regulations

Abstract In comparison to other high-risk industrial sectors, human rights due diligence (HRDD) in the arms sector remains unclear and underdeveloped. This article elucidates how supply chain regulations can provide pertinent guidance for clarifying and elaborating the standards and requirements of the HRDD obligations of arms companies. Part I reaffirms the importance of independent HRDD obligations for arms companies due to the significant human rights risks posed by arms exports. Part II contextualises the limitations in the development of HRDD in the arms industry by examining the corporate policies of major arms companies. Part III explicates why supply chain regulations for conflict minerals are suitable guidance for clarifying and elaborating the HRDD obligations of arms companies. Part IV details five elements of an HRDD framework for arms companies that are essential for comprehensively identifying, evaluating and addressing the human rights risks of arms exports. Part V offers concluding remarks.

Readiness Through International Cooperation: Finnish Defence Industrial Strategy in Changing Operational Environment from the Mid-1990s to the Early 2020s

ABSTRACT After the Cold War, European defence industrial capacity decreased; however, in the 2020s, there is again a need for products of the defence industry. Although Finland is a small country, it has significant production capacity for defence materials. In this paper, we analyse how Finland preserved it in changing operational environment. We utilize points of departure of source-based historical research to give any reader an idea over the history of the theme. To conduct this, we have used publicly available documents and other texts, which are findable from Finnish repositories, and analyse what was Finnish policy and why it was formulated in relation to wider security political contexts. Additionally, we will analyse the available statistical data related to exports of the Finnish defence industry as they are a key part of Finnish policy. Using statistical and econometrical tools enables us to reveal important tren5ds that could otherwise be left unnoticed. Our statistical sources include, for instance, Finnish Government publications, arms industry databases of AFDA and SIPRI, SaferGlobe data, and LSEG Data & Analytics platform. Our data sources contain the most reliable and informative data available publicly.

Developments in Arms Production and the Effects of the War in Ukraine

ABSTRACT This article presents global trends in arms production, building on the most recent data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In 2022, despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and heightened tension around the world, arms production fell in real terms by 3.5 per cent to $597 billion. The decrease was mostly due to the performance of US companies – still plagued by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic – and not offset by increases in other regions. Notwithstanding the global decrease, arms revenue was still 14 per cent higher than in 2015, the year in which SIPRI started including Chinese arms companies. Procurement plans for the replenishment of stockpiles and modernisation of military equipment deployed by states around the world are mostly not yet reflected in the revenue of the arms industry. In addition to the lengthy time lag between orders and deliveries, many companies have faced challenges in scaling up production. However, high order intakes suggest that arms revenue may rise significantly in the years ahead.

Влияние антропогенного фактора на последствия применения огнестрельного оружия ограниченного поражения

Due to the development of the arms industry in Russia and the filling of various types of non-lethal kinetic weapons (NLW), also referred to as traumatic or kinetic weapons, the beginning of the XXI century is characterized by an intensive accumulation on the hands of the population in the Russian Federation (RF) of a significant number of its weapons. Thus, if in 2008 about 4.4 thousand crimes were committed with the use of traumatic weapons, then by 2012 the population of the Russian Federation had from 1.5 to 3.5 million samples of NLW in their hands. In 2015 alone, more than 1 million permits for possession of NLW were issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The Nenets Autonomous District, which is part of the Arkhangelsk region, being along with other territories of the region, part of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, is among the leaders in the Russian Federation by the rate of increase in the number of registered crimes related to the illegal circulation of these weapons (+90.9 %). The combination of such factors as the presence of a significant number of firearms in the hands of the population, a high proportion of their illegal circulation and, as a consequence, the unjustified use of firearms in public places prompted us to study this problem from the side of the influence of anthropogenic (human) factor on human health.Purpose of the study. To study the influence of anthropogenic factor on the effects of NLW. Out of 248 victims, 235 (94.8 %) males and 13 (5.2 %) females were identified. The mean age was (31.8 years) and ranged from 16 to 64 years. The largest age category of 30–39 years was 100 (40.3 %) people, and the highest number of victims in the Arctic territory of the Arkhangelsk region was in 2011–2015. The subsequent decrease in the number of injuries is probably due to the adoption of a number of regulations tightening the turnover (FZ- № 398 of 28.12.2010 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts", the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia from 07.06.2022 № 403). A significant part of the victims — 80 (32.3 %) were admitted to hospital emergency rooms in a state of alcoholic or drug intoxication. As a result of the use of firearms, 3 victims (1.2 %) suffered disability and permanent disability. On the territory of the Arctic zone of the Arkhangelsk Region NLW were mostly used not for self-defense, but for hooligan motives 134 (98.5 %) cases out of 136 accurately determined.

An antitrust case in the diamond industry: The United States v. the De Beers cartel (1948)

This paper examines an antitrust case filed in 1945 by the United States Department of Justice against the diamond cartel led by the South African firm De Beers. By the end of the interwar period, the Belgian Congo firms in the cartel were the largest producers of industrial diamonds in the world. Demand for this product had stagnated during the interwar period but increased during World War II, as industrial diamonds were needed by the arms industry. This resulted in a partial shift of De Beers’ production away from jewellery diamonds to support the allied war effort. This article focuses on the background of the case and engages with reasons why the Department of Justice filed the complaint. It examines the De Beers production historically, before investigating the lawsuit’s arguments. The strategic importance of the US diamond stockpile was the central issue. The paper considers the historiography of the diamond industry and discusses historians’ hypotheses regarding the case. Although dismissed in 1948, the case resulted in changes in the cartel’s organisation and in greater scrutiny of De Beers’ activities. The case marks a turning point for the cartel, which then entered an adaptation phase that ensured its survival until nearly the end of the century.

When government is the solution: creating the arms industry in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1800s

PurposeThis historical example of the creation of the arms industry in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1800s provides new insights into the value of government venture capital (GVC) and government demand in creating a new industry. Since current theoretical explanations of the best uses of governmental venture capital are still under development, there is considerable need for further theory development to explain and predict the creation of an industry and especially those industries where failures in private capital supply necessitates governmental involvement in new firm creation. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in depth historical review of how the arms industry evolved spurred by GVC and government created demand.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses abductive inference as the best way to build and test emerging theories and advancing theoretical explanations of the best uses of GVC and governmental demand to achieve socially required outcomes.FindingsBy observing this specific historical example in detail, the authors add to the understanding of value creation caused by governmental venture capital funding of existing theory. A major contribution of this paper is to advance theory based on detailed observation.Originality/valueThe relatively limited research literature and theory development on governmental venture capital funding and the critical success factors in startups are enriched by this abductive investigation of the creation of the historically important arms industry and its spillover into creating the specialized machine industry.

Political regimes and self-reliance in the Indian arms industry

ABSTRACT This study assesses the effectiveness of government initiatives and explores the impact of a shift in political regimes in reducing arms imports. We employ an Interrupted Time Series design using the Prais-Winsten Regression to assess the impact of India’s increased focus on achieving self-reliance in arms manufacturing with the change in political regimes in 2014. The time period analyzed is from 2004 to 2022. Our findings suggest that policies associated with the change in political regimes have succeeded in curbing arms imports. This paper offers insights into the broader implications of political regime changes on a nation’s quest for self-reliance in arms manufacturing, making it valuable for defense analysts and scholars specializing in international relations and arms trade.

The Market Dynamics of Military Conflict: Financial Returns and Strategic Considerations in the Global Arms Industry

The Market Dynamics of Military Conflict: Financial Returns and Strategic Considerations in the Global Arms Industry

Development trends and problems of Polish arms industry in 2022-2024

The article examines the main problems of the development of the Polish military-industrial complex. The text focuses on the changes in the structure and organization of the management of the military-industrial complex, issues of its financing within the framework of the program for the modernization of the Polish armed forces, the role of the Polish military-industrial complex in the EU.

Elli Heesch, Heinrich Heesch and Hilbert’s eighteenth problem: collaborative research between philosophy, mathematics and application

This paper examines the hitherto unknown scientific collaboration between the siblings Elli Heesch (1904–1993) and Heinrich Heesch (1906–1995). Heinrich Heesch, a well-known mathematician, was spearheading the early development of the computer-aided proof of the four-colour theorem. Much less is known about his sister Elli Heesch, a philosopher and logician. Together with her brother she investigated tiling problems and worked out a solution of Hilbert’s 18th problem. In 1944, Elli and Heinrich Heesch wrote a joint treatise on the industrial application of the tessellation method, which was of great interest to the German war and armaments industry. The collaboration of the Heesch siblings illustrates individual, disciplinary, cultural, and political aspects of knowledge production. The common interplay of close family relations and socio-political conditions that we find here underlines the fact that women’s contributions to solving mathematical problems often remained invisible.

Globalization of Arms Production And Hierarchical Market Economies: Explaining the Transformation of the South Korean Defense Industry

The global arms industry has experienced a major transformation in the post-Cold War era, with production becoming increasingly transnational and larger in scale. While many scholars and policymakers predicted the widespread adoption of market-enhancing reforms aimed at increasing domestic competition and attracting FDI, globalization of arms production has not led to a convergence of national defense industries into a liberal- market model. Drawing on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) literature, recent scholarship has demonstrated how an interdependent web of economic institutions has shaped each country's response in varied ways. This paper builds on the VoC literature and argues that the hierarchical market economy (HME) as a distinct variety serves as a better model for understanding the trajectory of defense industries in many second-tier producers that do not fit the existing categories of VoC. We conduct an in-depth case study of South Korea's defense-industry reform initiated in 2008 and the subsequent threefold increase in its arms exports. We show that the trajectory of South Korea's defense-industry reform can be seen as the result of an HME's attempt to adapt to the globalization of arms production in ways that preserve its distinct comparative advantage. As the HME model has broad applicability for many countries in Asia and Latin America, our findings have important implications for future developments in the global arms industry.

The war in Ukraine: Consequences for the economy, labour class and equitable development in Europe and beyond

AbstractThis article encourages critical discussion about the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine. This war has global effects in various dimensions of social life: energy policy, the environmental dimension, the economic sphere, and also the political atmosphere. In each of these dimensions, it poses a threat to sustainable development and the interests of the labour class in Europe. It attempts to change the balance of power in global geopolitics and also proves to be a useful cover for attempts to change the model of relations between employees and the state and business in many European countries. Due to the conflict in Ukraine and the ensuing calls for increased efforts to ‘ensure security’, Europe has turned towards a war economy in which the interests of the arms industry are more important than the interests of the working classes. The war in Ukraine has proved to be an excellent justification for governments to lower social standards and get rid of the remnants of the welfare state. From this perspective, the atmosphere of the New Cold War becomes a challenge for the labour movement, the global left and all progressive social circles.

The disparate economic outcomes of stigma: Evidence from the arms industry

AbstractResearch SummaryOrganizational stigma has been commonly associated with a number of negative economic externalities in prior literature, but the mechanism by which this occurs and the extent of the associated consequences have received little attention. We address these gaps by theorizing that stigmatizing labels damage the legitimacy of the target by highlighting a deviation from the expectations of relevant audiences. We also argue that the content and focus of stigmatizing labels, as well as the features of the stigmatizer audience deploying them, will affect the magnitude of the negative economic consequences of stigma. Through an analysis linking the condemnation of arms producers in the media between 1998 and 2016 to cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) in the stock market, we find broad support for our arguments.Managerial SummaryThis paper examines the economic impact of stakeholder criticism on firms, using data from the global arms industry to develop a typology of criticism based on its content, focus, and origin. We find that criticism can negatively affect a firm's stock market returns, particularly when those criticizing have the authority to condemn specific behaviors. Civil society entities like nonprofits or the media, politicians, and economic players such as investors each have unique authority to criticize harmful behavior, illegal behavior, and unethical affiliations, respectively. Understanding the different types of criticism and their potential economic consequences can help firms better manage stakeholder relationships and mitigate negative impacts on their financial performance.

Defeat and Division: France at War 1939-1942

Here are two thought-provoking books to savour and keep for reference. Emeritus Professor Douglas Porch’s Defeat and Division: France at War 1939-1942 is a thorough, engrossing and authoritative study of France’s armed forces, set in their political and social context. It is part narrative, part extended analytical dialogue with the existing literature. He offers his readers plenty of trenchant observations. After a short introduction, this first of two volumes begins with a succinct survey of French defence policy in the inter-war period (Chapter 1). Porch believes that while French governments of the 1930s—including the Popular Front—spent large amounts of money on modernizing their armed forces, rearmament was patchy. Production quotas could not be met, because industry was too old-fashioned and mismanaged. Rearmament was in the hands of ‘a multifaceted, Balkanized military organization, whose leadership lacked a coherent defence vision for inter-arm and inter-service cooperation.’ In seeking to determine how ready France’s armed forces were to face the German onslaught in May 1940 (Chapter 2), Porch concludes that the Third Republic failed to ‘socialize’ its soldiers and civilians for the coming struggle, partly due to ‘faulty strategic analysis [and] wishful thinking’. Furthermore, ‘given the negative reports on the state of readiness of French and British troops, and bottlenecks in the French armaments industry due to a lack of centralized planning, the prognosis was not good’.

The Russia-Iran Alignment in the Middle East: The Main Dynamics and Limits of the Bilateral Security Cooperation

This article examines the main dynamics of the Russia-Iran alignment and discusses its significance in Russian foreign policy and Russia’s balancing strategy against the US. In the Middle East, Russia does not embrace an individual state as a constant ally and seeks pragmatic cooperation with all regional states. Despite maintaining close cooperation with Tehran since the 1990s, Russia has avoided building long-term and binding alliance arrangements with Iran. Instead, Moscow has utilized its relations with Iran as bargaining chip vis-à-vis the US and distanced itself from Tehran whenever there has been a rapprochement in Russian-American relations. In this regard, the Russia-Iran alignment is not an example of ‘hard balancing’ that draws on military alliance formation and mutual arms build-up and aims at confrontation with an adversary. It can be best identified as a ‘soft balancing’ initiative that relies on less confrontational methods such as informal alignments and limited arms build-up and aims to restrain the threatening behavior of a rival state. Another significant limitation of Russia-Iran alignment is that Russia is unwilling to risk its relations with Israel and Gulf states for the sake of Iran considering the cooperation potential with those states in foreign policy, energy, and arms industry.

From mass mobilization to neoliberal war-making: Labor strikes and military-industrial transformation in the United States

How did workers affect—and how were they affected by—the dramatic transformations of U.S. war-making that have occurred since the mid-twentieth century? Where do such transformations leave workers and war in the twenty-first century? Using newly compiled data on workers’ strikes in the U.S. armaments industries from World War II through the present, this paper examines the relationship between labor and military-industrial restructuring. The paper introduces the concept of regimes of war-making and makes three main arguments. First, workers’ power was a significant force shaping the shift from a regime of mass mobilization war-making to a regime of neoliberal war-making, as armaments firms aimed to overcome the constraints imposed by workers in the mid-twentieth century. Wartime mobilizations—for Korea and Vietnam—temporarily stymied these efforts by enhancing the disruptive power of workers, who leveraged that power into pauses or reversals of firms’ initial attempts at restructuring. Second, U.S. defeat in Vietnam was a watershed moment. Mass mobilization was abandoned, and the changing nature of war meant that subsequent military buildups offered workers little leverage with which to resist restructuring. Third, in the twenty-first century, the combination of greatly expanded wars and decades of restructuring has resulted in a bifurcation among armaments workers, between those producing supplies needed for pressing counterinsurgency operations and those producing other innovative, but unused, systems. Thus, while the regime of neoliberal war-making has reduced the size and strength of armaments workers in general, some still have significant disruptive potential at the present juncture.

Geweerfabriek van Petrus Regout (1842-1843): een kortstondig avontuur

Around 1840, percussion muskets became more and more common in European armies. To keep up with this development, under great time and financial pressure, the Dutch Department of War awarded a contract to convert its muskets to a contractor who was unfamiliar with the arms industry: the Maastricht entrepreneur Petrus Regout. Regout, who accepted an extreme low price, seriously underestimated the scope of the transformation. Due to bad management his ‘musket company’ soon headed towards bankruptcy. He was forced to give back the contract. In his arrogance Regout ignored the advice of representatives of the Dutch artillery who supervised the process. It was a missed opportunity for a dynamic entrepreneur as Regout. The article highlights a rather neglected episode of his business career.

İNSANSIZ HAVA ARAÇLARI İÇİN U-NET TABANLI ARAÇ TESPİT YÖNTEMİ

With the developments in computer hardware technology, studies in the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence has accelerated. However, the number of areas where autonomous systems are used has also increased. Among these areas are unmanned aerial vehicles, which are one of the most important parameters of today's military technology. In this study, which includes two different scenarios, we aimed to improve the vision capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles based on artificial intelligence. Within the scope of Scenario-1, the U-Net model suitable for binary semantic segmentation method was trained with the help of images taken by unmanned aerial vehicle camera. Within the scope of Scenario-2, which is designed for moving or stationary vehicle detection, the U-Net model is trained in accordance with multi-class semantic segmentation method. In all these training processes, a publicly available dataset was used. The model trained for Scenario-1 reached mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) value of 84.3%, while the model trained for Scenario-2 reached 79.7% mIoU. In this study, approaches were shared about the use of high-resolution images in model training and testing stages. Applying such studies in the field can help improve precision and reliability in arms industry.

INCREASING THE ENERGY OF alpha, omega - DIHYDROXYPOLIBUTADIENE (HTPB) USED IN SOLID HETEROGENEOUS ROCKET PROPELLANT

Solid heterogeneous rocket propellants (SHRP), which are very popular and widely used in the armaments industry (guided missile propulsion engines and long-range, short-range and medium-range anti-aircraft rockets) have inert binders that significantly affect the final performance parameters of propulsion charges. In this study, the popular HTPB binder was modified by introducing azide groups into the polymer chain during three different syntheses. Compounds with different content of explosive groups were obtained and tested for compatibility with the essential SHRP components: ammonium chlorate(VII) and dioctyl adipate. Then, preliminary application tests of the obtained HTPB derivative were carried out, showing the potential of the obtained energetic polymer and the possibility of its use as a binder in solid heterogeneous rocket fuels. HTPB, energetic binder, azide groups

The Perverse Consequence of Firms’ Negative Publicity in Stigmatized Industries: CEOs' Board Appointments

This study examines whether and when, in a stigmatized industry, firms’ negative publicity can lead to the appointment of their CEOs to the boards of directors of other firms within that sector. Building on research on ingroup identification and on stigma, we propose that within a stigmatized industry, when a firm receives negative publicity, its CEO is more likely to join the board of other firms in the industry, possibly because these other firms interpret the negative publicity as a sign of the social identification of the CEO with the stigmatized industry. We also suggest that this relationship is more likely when the negative publicity reveals information otherwise not available about the CEO. We test our hypotheses using a novel, hand-collected dataset of 408 CEOs in 205 firms in the global arms industry, between 1998 and 2017, and find that within this stigmatized industry, when a firm receives negative publicity, its CEO is more likely to join the board of other firms in the industry, and that lower levels of CEOs’ reputational capital and visibility magnify this effect. Our findings advance the conversations in stigma research about upper echelons, highlighting the importance of internal and external actors and of the type of stigma, when investigating the consequences of stigma for upper echelons’ careers.