Janes: defense supplier base is dangerously thin

Worldwide suppliers of military equipment are fast approaching a condition where defense industries in many countries cannot meet the operational demands of a major war, say experts at the British research and publishing firm Jane`s Information Group of Coulsdon, England. As nations forego regional conflicts such as the Balkans and the Middle East to focus on internal struggles, the producers of military hardware find that anticipated contacts disappear as defense spending diminishes or goes to maintain existing equipment, say Terry Gander and Christopher Foss, editors of the directory Jane`s Military Vehicles and Logistics. Gander and Foss warn that if the current trend of declining defense procurement does not end soon, "a situation not too dissimilar to 1939 and 1941 may well have to be faced," the period just prior to World War II when "it took years of overwhelming effort and suffering to overcome a lack of preparedness that history now tells us should never have been allowed to happen." - J.K.