Ongoing conflicts in Sahel, Libya and Syria, the unsolved nuclear dispute of the western world with North-Korea, the Ukraine conflict caused by the annexation of the Krim by Russia in 2014 and furthermore China acting in an expansive way in the Chinese Sea questioning the national sovereignty of Taiwan makes 2021 a challenging year for the international multilateral community. Beside of the mentioned (military) conflicts, further threats like international terrorism, the COVID 19 pandemic and an increasing number of cyber-attacks are worsening the situation for decision makers in the western hemisphere.
NATO soldiers doing their duty. Therefore, NATO defense forces need both, political support and enough equipment, time and money to train the troops to get the best out of it.
At a glance the defense industry is facing some parameters: Overall the above-mentioned risks have led to higher defense budgets in nearly all western states and a strong focus on technical innovation, especially in the autonomous ground and air vehicle area. Furthermore, new competitors from non-EU countries seeking to gain market shares globally. Despite of higher budgets also a new wave of consolidation on the manufacturer side can been seen. This industry consolidation is caused by new ways of procurement and member state driven technology programmes like PESCO in the European Union. Reducing the number and variety of military products will have the positive effect of reducing the overall product development costs. Nevertheless, many today independent actors in the market will act as subcontractors or (minority) partner in an industrial consortium delivering fewer number but more harmonised products to different countries. These joint procurement and innovation programmes will foster a strong market concentration in the next years.