Transatlantic Armaments Cooperation - Federation of American ...

their annual funding requirements than if a
more equitable currency exchange, such as an
average over a ten-year period, had been used
for the program. Additionally, as the dollar
weakened against the European currencies
(some more than others) the national work loading
had to be adjusted to match the program’s
work share objectives. 24
Human Dimension
TGW had many contentious decisions related
to work shares, quality of work, initial problems
with the MDTT joint venture, exchange rates,
etc. Throughout the program, it was the human
dimension of seeking understanding of the
partners’ differences that led to achievement
of the technical goals. 25 Without leaders that
cared and were willing to work toward resolving
differences over long periods of time
(more than eight years) TGW could very easily
have failed to reach its technical objectives. The
ultimate demise of TGW was not because of
the human dimension within the program, but
rather U.S. funding choices made at a higher
level.
4-9
Notes
TGW was a very large and difficult transatlantic
cooperative development effort that achieved
its technical requirements but fell victim to
defense budget cuts at the end of the Cold War.
The U.S. withdrawal cast doubt on the U.S.’s
reliability as a partner and was particularly frustrating
to the Europeans. TGW is cited as a classic
example of one the significant problems with
transatlantic cooperation. DoD was simultaneously
funding a “black” program, BAT, for a
similar military capability. With the end of
TGW, the Europeans felt frustrated that they
were essentially left with nothing while the U.S.
continued with its previously black U.S.-only
BAT submunition program. 26 A contributing
factor to TGW’s demise was probably the
relatively small U.S. industry involvement and
resulting political support for the program as
compared to the alternative BAT program.
Would TGW have been killed if the U.S. had
larger cost and work shares, and consequently,
U.S. industry had a significantly greater interest
in TGW?