Rationalisation in European NATO Armaments - Political and Industrial Preconditions

Abstract

The international trade in arms is not a new phenomenon. The commercial export of cannon in the second half of the sixteenth century presented such problems to the court of Elizabeth I that it led her to introduce what was probably the first official licensing procedure for the export of armaments. Although Elizabeth’s embargo on arms sales to the Catholic Powers was repeatedly circumvented by the sanction-busters of the day, it contributed to the defeat of the Armada in 1588 by restricting Spanish access to superior English munitions. In later years, restrictions on arms exports were gradually relaxed, and gun foundries frequently relied on overseas markets for a large proportion of their sales. One of the more prominent gunmakers, John Browne, said in 1629 that the King’s service would have taken up only 10 days a year of his furnace activity (cipolla., 1965; Frere-Cook & Macksey, 1975).