Prerequisites for the development of a military-industrial cluster: the experience of the Us, Eu, and China

Mindlin Yury Borisovich

The article analyzes trends in the development of the military-industrial complex of the leading countries of the world, namely: The United States of America and the member States of the European Union and China. It is noted that after a large-scale conversion in the United States began to actively implement technology transfer, which, according to American experts, is that part of the applied knowledge is transferred from military production to the production of commercial products. However, not all defense technologies can be implemented in civilian enterprises. Experience shows that at best one of the three carefully selected and implemented military technologies is successful in civilian applications. It is determined that the second strategic way of restructuring is diversification. Large defense companies tend to specialize in several areas of technology and have at their disposal various types of assets that can be of value when working in alternative areas of activity. It should be noted that conversion in the United States was carried out primarily by diversifying and producing civilian products without reducing staff, which allowed maintaining a low unemployment rate. As the USA experience has shown, market diversification shows more successful results compared to the merger strategy, as diversified companies pay more attention to the use of their technologies and invest a much larger share of resources in R&D. The main trends in the development of the military-industrial complex (MIC) of the leading countries include the following: the creation of large defense-industrial integrated structures for the development and production of modern weapons and military equipment at the national, transnational and transatlantic levels; the convergence of the military and civilian sectors of the economy; large corporations are moving from mass to "flexible" production, which can achieve high production efficiency.

Keywords:cluster, military-industrial complex, civil production, diversification, EU, USA, China.