Richard Bitzinger - Arming Asia

Bitzinger examines the phenomenon of attempted self-reliance in arms production within Asia and assesses the extent of success in balancing this independence with the growing requirements of next-generation weapons systems. He analyzes China, India, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.

The overarching question in the book is whether self-reliance is a strategically viable solution for the development and manufacturing of arms. Given the ever-changing dynamics of armaments production and the increasing demand for sophisticated next-generation weaponry, will these countries be able to individually sustain their domestic defense industries and constantly update their technologies?

This is one of the few books to analyze Asian arms production from a regional perspective.

Richard A. Bitzinger is a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is the author of Towards a Brave New Arms Industry? (Oxford University Press, 2003), Come the Revolution: Transforming the Asia-Pacifics Militaries, Naval War College Review (Fall, 2005), Transforming the U.S. Military: Implications for the Asia-Pacific (ASPI, December 2006), and Military Modernization in the Asia-Pacific: Assessing New Capabilities, Asias Rising Power (NBR, 2010). He is also the editor of The Modern Defense Industry: Political, Economic and Technological Issues (Praeger, 2009) and Emerging Critical Technologies and Their Impact on Asian-Pacific Security (Palgrave, 2016).

Taiwans defense against the air threat from mainland China

Edited by Martin Edmonds and Michael M. Tsai

Leszek Buszynski

Edited by Martin Edmonds and Michael M. Tsai

Edited by Kwa Chong Guan and John K. Skogan

Russell Ong

Edited by Herbert S. Yee

7India and the South Asian Strategic Triangle

Ashok Kapur

8Southeast Asia and the Rise of China

The search for security

Ian Storey

9Chinas Strategic Competition with the United States

Russell Ong

10The Origins of U.S. Policy in the East China Sea Islands Dispute

Okinawas reversion and the Senkaku Islands

Robert D. Eldridge

11Arming Asia

Technonationalism and its impact on local defense industries

Richard A. Bitzinger

Richard A. Bitzinger

First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2017 Richard A. Bitzinger

The right of Richard A. Bitzinger to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-1-138-89255-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-70910-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

This book could not have been possible without the considerable support and inputs of many people. In the first place, I am grateful to the management at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) particularly Executive Deputy Chairman Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Dean Joseph Liow, and Dr. Tan See Seng, Director and Head of Research at RSISs Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies who gave this book project their full and enthusiastic backing. I am also grateful to my many friends and family who contributed advice, succor, and support during the long and often arduous process of writing this book.

R.A.B., Singapore, November 2016

Asia is often overlooked as a center of armaments production. Most of the largest arms-producing states are still located in North America and Europe, and as a whole the Asia-Pacific region probably accounts for less than ten percent of all global weapons manufacturing. Nevertheless, that still makes it the worlds third largest defense-industrial hub and it is growing, in terms of the numbers, variety, and the sophistication of its weapons systems. And while it is true that Asian-Pacific militaries still import large chunks of their arms from the West, this trend will not last. Most of the biggest military spenders in the Asia-Pacific also possess sizable defense industries, and their governments are committed to increasing their purchases from local arms suppliers.

Nation-states not just in the Asia-Pacific but around the world have many reasons to produce armaments, but traditionally the strongest motivation has been classically realist and security oriented: the need to provide for a secure source of military materiel necessary to deter threats and to defend ones national territory. Possessing or attempting to possess strong domestic arms industries, capable of designing, developing, and manufacturing advanced weapons systems, is viewed by many countries as an essential element of this strategy. Consequently, autarky, or self-sufficiency in arms acquisition, can be a critical national security objective. At the same time, however, such autarky traditionally had quite limited military motivations, i.e., national defense. Increasingly, however, many nations and particularly those in the Asia-Pacific have come to view indigenous arms production from a much broader perspective: the idea that autarky in armaments serves larger, more ambitious national interests, i.e., it is about securing and advancing a nations geopolitical status in a regional or global system. This particularly technonationalist approach to armaments production has become endemic to the Asia-Pacific region, and it is critical to understand why and how this trait has so strongly influenced regional defense industrialization and arms manufacturing. It is also important to always keep the technonationalist impulse in mind when addressing how Asian-Pacific nations deal with problems and failures when it comes to indigenous armaments production, and why, despite whatever setbacks they may encounter, maintaining and expanding their national defense industrial bases remains a high priority.