Having competition is a plus, it's still capitalism. And yeah, this will always get political. But in the end, contracts would probably get bigger, is what I mean.Combining efforts would be logical, but I suspect that there would be resistance to doing so. Sweden and France may not be willing to give up their homemade production of aircraft, for example, to contribute to an expanded joint Eurofighter project. Even in the US the state by state politics of jobs plays a role in procurement. I suspect that will be difficult to overcome when national economies are involved, particularly as both Sweden and France have a goal of exporting some planes as well.
Yep. And as opposed to now, this army would have one big lead purpose: defense against Russia. This hasn't been the case so far.Fervorous atlanticists (not a friend of them) tend to ignore the massive synergies that would bring the combined purchasing power and R&D capabilities of a common European army. Even a few countries banding together would make a huge difference.
You can already see how it is changing European militaries:
http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/daily_finland_planning_to_buy_new_counter_artillery_system/9399654
Artillery is coming back, tanks are coming back and even militias (like in Poland and the Baltics). Not what we've usually been investing in for the last 25 years.