Aircraft and the West
In its report on rearmament the Select Committee on Estimates stresses, as might be expected, the familiar advan- tages of specialisation in the production of military aircraft by the Western Allies. By this means, they suggest, each mem- ber of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, while building fewer types, will in fact be able to produce more aircraft at a lower cost per unit. Further, so runs the report, manufac- turers themselves assert that new aircraft types could be produced much more cheaply, given big enough orders in the first place to warrant pressing. ahead at full throttle. But here the main brake on progress is the " present economic situation," which prevents the Ministry of Supply from placing the large initial orders needed if such economies are to be made. The figures given in the recent past of the huge cost of developing new types are certainly disturbing, and it is hard not to suspect that there must be a way of curbing it. Perhaps the manufac- turers can even be credited with knowing the way. The Com- mittee are also disturbed 'at British dependence on foreign suppliers for certain types of machine tools, and recommend that steps be taken to remedy this situation. But is not this in itself a finger-post pointing to a major difficulty ? We must, is it s widely argued, maintain a balanced output: but other Countries in their turn think the same. In their minds the question is bedevilled by fears of possible political develop- Tents and of unbalanced national war potential. Specialisa- .tion,' like government, has not yet transcended national boundaries.
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