Sergey Kandaurov, Vladimir Komardin

Clinton’s administration considers military and technical cooperation (MTC) with foreign countries as a vital instrument to ensuring national interests, to draw other states under the American influence and to secure global domination in the world. According to the US administration the main tasks of the MTC are to preserve the US technological superiority to the armed forces of potential enemies, to promote regional stability in “the third world”, to support the national military-industrial complex etc. Although the commercial benefits aren’t officially among the tasks of the American military export policy, in reality the government actively encourages military export in order to strengthen the US positions on the world armaments market, to force the competitors out of it, to ensure rather stable source of currency income by armament sales.

To fulfill these tasks the US state bodies (the administration and the Congress) support the national AME exporters and exert pressure on the existing and potential MTC partners. On the other hand, they counteract the competitors on the armaments market in the different regions of the world. The US embassies and the Pentagon representatives abroad provide the American armaments exporters with necessary information, assist and coordinate their activities in foreign military exhibitions and armament supply tenders. The Congress approves the state financing of the intergovernmental military and technical cooperation and prohibits the American firms to conduct military cooperation with certain rogue states. The USA often exerts pressure on the foreign states using different political and economic factors to lobby its interests. It also uses the international financial organizations and the conventional arms control regimes to counteract the competitors and to promote the American armament export.

The USA isn’t so much concerned about the Russian armaments export profit share on the world market but its strengthening positions and influence in the different regions. Counteracting the activity of the Russian armament exporters the USA actively uses such uncivilized forms of competition as propaganda campaigns to discredit the Russian armaments and the policy of Moscow in the field of military and technical cooperation. The governments of those countries that sign contracts with Russia are also being compromised in mass media. Secondly, the USA strictly links the granted credits and financial aid for the “third world” countries with the obligations to purchase the American armaments. Through the “Partnership for peace” program the United States try to weaken the military and technical cooperation between Russia and the CIS countries. The American exporters actively enter the armaments markets of those East and Central European states where Russia preserves its positions or has certain military and technical interests. The USA uses the increasing information exchange among the NATO-memebrs to detect the “weak points” of the Russian armaments and military equipment in order to inform the potential customers about them. Initiating the discussion about the “missile opposition” in the South Asia within the Missile Technology Control Regime the US administration intends to counteract the Russian-Indian cooperation in the missile construction field. The Russian government bears the political pressure to stop the military cooperation with the countries that conduct independent policy.

To the author’s point of view, special governmental support of the national armaments exporters can neutralize the American counteraction to the Russian activity in the field of MTC. The experience that the European armament suppliers gained in the competition with the American armament companies should be used to inform the potential clients about disadvantages of the American export policy.