Transatlantic Armaments Cooperation - Federation of American ...

design, and lightweight composite gun barrels.
The partners have agreed to continue their
cooperative research in advanced tube wear
reduction coatings, new sabot design and materials,
and advanced propellant charge systems.
The FTMA program has essentially four structural
pillars for planning, managing, executing,
and coordinating the cooperative R&D activities:
1) JSC (SNR(A)s) to provide top level
direction/ dispute resolution; 2) Military Working
Group (O-6 level) to set military priorities;
3) EMC (National PMs) to determine technical
work packages; and 4) Industrial consortium
to execute R&D work, and provide technical
data. It also provides a forum for exploration
of future cooperation, such as development of
electro-thermal and/or electro-magnetic based
armament systems among NATO’s largest
members.
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The FTMA program with its four structural
pillars perhaps provides a model that could
effectively be used to manage and execute other
multinational R&D efforts. Although when
judged against its original lofty objectives, this
program has languished because of both a lack
of urgent need based on the current armored
threat and defense budget constraints, it nonetheless
provides a good example of how to conduct
cooperative R&D activities. With the likelihood
that defense budgets will remain severely
constrained, the U.S. and its partners
must find ways to get the most return on their
R&D investments. Effective cooperative R&D
programs, like the FTMA program, are one of
the bedrocks of armaments cooperation. Sharing
technical data and developing common
technologies are likely to lead to formulation
of common military requirements, which are
the foundation of all codevelopment/coproduction
programs.