First published in 1986. Based on the theme that defense procurement serves as an instrument of alliance and domestic politics, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of post-war West German approaches to and experience with procurement strategies. Dr. Cowen explores how successive German governments have used military procurement to facilitate the rehabilitation of the new West German state and later to consolidate the German position within the alliance. The author shows that by the mid-1970s the Federal Republic had succeeded in its procurement policy, acting as a serious partner for defense projects in Europe and building a flourishing defense industry. The book's final chapters describe the structural tensions between competing procurement objectives that have recently emerged. The FRG must decide whether to continue to maintain a whole range of defense industrial capacities or to specialize nationally and purchase other necessary commodities in the United States. According to the author, national specialization is not seriously considered by the German government. Such a step, the author suggests, would diminish Germany's role in the alliance and jeopardize one of its foremost foreign policy goals: equality with Great Britain and France

Since the end of the "Cold War" and the dismantling of the Soviet Union, significant transformations in the military, political, and industrial state of affairs have occurred force reductions, declining budgets, taking advantage of the "peace-dividend", consolidations, commercialization, and globalization. These changes have forced the Department of Defense of the United States and the Ministry of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany to develop more innovative and efficient methods for developing and procuring fewer, more technically sophisticated systems with less money and personnel. By assessing and comparing the procurement systems of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany, one makes conclusions regarding challenges faced by the Government officials and the advantages and disadvantages associated with each system. This leads to inferences about future trends and solutions for each country.