The Case for the Development of a Theoretical Framework for Defence Acquisition

Abstract

While the term defence acquisition is widely used, just what disciplines and content areas that should be included under this term have not been extensively explored. This paper discusses the preliminary results of a pan-European working party of defence academics based in Sweden, Germany, and the UK. This group sought to surface the research issues requiring analysis greater in order to determine what constitutes defence acquisition. They then sought to define the strategic implications that follow for defence in respect to areas such what theoretical stance or stances should inform defence acquisition, how to accelerate the creation of relevant knowledge to improve the professionalism of defence acquisition specialists, how to manage the shift from a goods-centric to a service-centric procurement focus, the new roles and relationships required between government, the higher education sector and defence industries in order to operate effectively in a globally integrated defence economy, optimal policy frameworks and ethical issues. The overall value of the paper is that it helps set a framework to direct and harness future research and educational activities in defence acquisition. In so doing, it provides opportunities for researchers and educators to make more effective use of their limited resources.