In this study, we address the long-term project pricing problem for a company that operates in the defense industry. The pricing problem is a bid project pricing problem which includes various technical and financial uncertainties, such as estimations of workhour content of the project and exchange &amp / inflation rates. We propose a Robust Optimization (RO) approach that can deal with the uncertainties during the project lifecycle through the identification of several discrete scenarios. The bid project&rsquo / s performance measures, other than the monetary measures, for R&amp / D projects are identified and the problem is formulated as a multi-attribute utility project pricing problem. In our RO approach, the bid pricing problem is decomposed into two parts which are v solved sequentially: the Penalty-Model, and the RO model. In the Penalty-Model, penalty costs for the possible violations in the company&rsquo / s workforce level due to the bid project&rsquo / s workhour requirements are determined. Then the RO model searches for the optimum bid price by considering the penalty cost from the Penalty-Model, the bid project&rsquo / s performance measures, the probability of winning the bid for a given bid price and the deviations in the bid project&rsquo / s cost. Especially for the R&amp / D type projects, the model tends to place lower bid prices in the expected value solutions in order to win the bid. Thus, due to the possible deviations in the project cost, R&amp / D projects have a high probability of suffering from a financial loss in the expected value solutions. However, the robust solutions provide results which are more aware of the deviations in the bid project&rsquo / s cost and thus eliminate the financial risks by making a tradeoff between the bid project&rsquo / s benefits, probability of winning the bid and the financial loss risk. Results for the probability of winning in the robust solutions are observed to be lower than the expected value solutions, whereas expected value solutions have higher probabilities of suffering from a financial loss.

The Defense Industry Reserve Duty System¡]DIRDS¡^has been used in Taiwan for many years. This program enables science and technology industries to recruit talented people, who can contribute to the defense industry and the high-tech industries without interruption by regular military service. This study uses quantitative methodology and interviews with human resources and R&D managers to determine how this program has effected high-tech enterprises from a human resources perspective. Results of this study showed that DIRDS recruits exhibited four characteristics: high stability, high quality, high educational background, and high consistency with industry requirements. Due to these four characteristics, DIRDS recruits have become an important source of IT talent. DIRDS recruits can bring significant growth to R&D efforts and enhance the energy of development. The Defense Industry Reserve Duty System can thus help reduce manufacturing costs, improve operational effectiveness, and raise the prestige of corporate brands. Further analysis and discussion of our results show that for human resources planning, work arrangement with DIRDS recruits should be combined with the company's long term objectives. Recruitment and selection should be focused and strategic since DIRDS targets specialized skills. Training and development should focus on practical or on job training that is tailored to the abilities and temperament of the DIRDS recruit.

In order to sell products in the defense industry it is often demanded of the seller to reinvest capital and collaborate with companies in the buying country, with the buyer hoping to establish a defense industry of their own. These so called offset demands are seen as an industry standard and forces the sellers to open up their supply chain and educate and develop the industry in the buying country. This “forced” knowledge transfer is an interesting topic and have been the focus point of this thesis. How can firms conduct successful knowledge transfer and develop the foreign industry and at the same time protects its own products and competitive advantage? This qualitative study has been done through interviews with four people having senior positions and a vast knowledge and background in working with offsets, combined with secondary data from previous studies and articles. The study showed that the most important factor for a successful knowledge transfer is the absorptive capacity of the partner and buying country. Furthermore, the success also lies in the offset regulations of the buyer, if you ask for the wrong things or in the wrong way, the industrial effects will be very limited. The Swedish firms were not afraid of sharing their knowledge since they had the confidence that they would keep to stay ahead of any new upcoming competitor, therefore a minor factor to consider. Lastly offsets have often been portrayed negatively. However, if successfully conducted, several positive effects of offsets have been identified by the authors. Showing that even though partnerships may an “arranged marriage” it can still become successful.

The master thesis "Economical and trade aspects of defense industry" is aimed at analyzing the relationship between defense suppliers and a government. The thesis describes the conditions under which the market is inefficient and causes of government failures. The important principle is the one of Pareto efficiency, which serves as a efficiency benchmark of economic allocation. The thesis has utilized theoretical methods to analyze individual aspects of international arms industry - both economic and non-economic.

As neighboring countries, Norway and Sweden are often thought to be very similar. However, the countries' military industries have developed in very different directions. Norway has had a long-term military dependence on the US, and a defense-industrial strategy to avoid direct competition with allied industries. Sweden, on the other hand, has transitioned from being almost military independent to preferring the US as a strategic partner, while the Swedish defense industry still produces equipment that often competes directly with US systems. Previous research has shown a strong relationship between national security strategies on the one hand, and political decisions related to defense acquisition and the alignment of the military-industrial complex on the other. The purpose is to identify differences between Norway's and Sweden's strategic culture that has affected the military industry, intending to improve future collaboration. The problem is solved by a comparative analysis of the two presented case studies of Norway's and Sweden’s respective industrial defense complexes, which suggest that history and cultural roots significantly impact strategic choices. The thesis concludes that strategic culture can explain some observed national differences in the presented cases. Using strategic culture as an analytical tool may thus prove useful when studying national military-industrial complexes and identifying factors that influence strategic choices. Increased knowledge of the origins and nature of differences in military-industrial strategy provides better preconditions for international collaboration in the area. As a result, this thesis will hopefully contribute to improved future collaboration between countries such as Norway and Sweden, when engaged in combined defense acquisition projects.

The United States Defense Industrial Base (USDIB) is an essential industry to both the economic prosperity of the US and its strategic control over many advanced military systems and technologies. The USDIB, which encompasses the industries of aerospace and defense, is a volatile industry - prone to many internal and external factors that cause demand to ebb and flow widely year over year. Among the factors that influence the volume of systems the USDIB delivers to its international customers are the arms export controls of the US. These controls impose a divergence from the historical US foreign policy of furthering an open exchange of ideas and liberalized trade. These controls, imposed by the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and State rigidly control all international presence of the Industry. The overlapping controls create an inability to conform to rapidly changing realpolitiks, leaving these controls in an archaic state. This, in turn, imposes a great deal of anxiety and expense upon managers within and outside of the USDIB. Using autoregressive integrated moving average time-series analyses, this paper confirms that the implementation of or amendment to broad arms export controls correlates to significant and near immediate declines in USDIB export volumes. In the context of the US's share of world arms exports, these controls impose up to a 20% decline in export volume.

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Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D-printing, has gained widespread adoption across various industries owing to advancements in manufacturing methods and printers. This technology offers users creative freedom, diverse manufacturing methods, and a wide range of material options. Consequently, many industries, including defense, are keen on integrating AM into their production processes. In the defense sector, AM facilitates rapid prototyping and the efficient blending of different materials, unlocking new possibilities that conventional methods cannot achieve. The ability to fabricate intricate geometries is another pivotal aspect driving the preference for AM. Thus, this study aims to explore the potential of lattice structures to impart unique material properties applicable in defense applications. Specifically, the investigation focuses on understanding the impact of discharge directions and lattice structures on radar properties for Material X. Analysis revealed that while discharge direction exhibited minimal influence on radar properties, different lattice structures could modify these properties by altering parameters such as unit cell size and panel thickness. Keywords: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing, lattice structures, discharge direction, radar properties, defense industry

During the 2000 presidential race, then Texas Governor George W. Bush advocated transforming and reforming how the Department of Defense (DoD) acquires new weapon systems. He promised a "revolution" that would "skip a generation of technology," in order to "move on to futuristic weapons without necessarily buying all those in development." This thesis examines President Bush's proposal and analyzes the potential impact on DoD and the defense industry. Ultimately the research revealed that there are ways to improve the acquisition process and protect the defense industry. The primary conclusion of the research is that it is feasible to skip current weapon systems in development, in order to begin research and development of the next-generation weapon systems. However, DoD will be impacted through higher operations and sustainment (O & S) costs to sustain existing weapon systems if weapon systems currently in development are skipped. The acquisition professionals that participated in this study believe these O & S costs could increase up to 10% per year for anywhere from five to 20 years depending on the type of system. This thesis makes additional recommendations and areas of further research. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

This qualitative research has been performed at Saab Dynamics with the purpose to analyze how resources are used in Saab to improve their processes and increase their market share. The theory used is founded in IMP theory with the implication that companies must move their focus from only considering internal resources into using their network. To analyze the different types resources in the network the 4R model has been used and adopted to two different cases at Saab Dynamics. The first case is about Saabs procurement of one of its suppliers, ACAB, and the second case is about a Country Xs procurement of the man-portable air-defense system RBS 70 NG. To gather data about the cases interviews has been performed with employees at Saab as well as other stakeholders. The result from these interviews were then analyzed based on the 4Rs, answering the questions: What Products are involved in the product development?  Which Production Facilities are involved in the product development? Which Business Units are involved in the product development? What Business relationships are involved in the product development? Once the resources were analyzed and compared to separately, the following question was answered: How have resources been combined to expand and strengthen the network? The result from the research showed that Saab has a great focus on its suppliers and how they should structure the network for the best potential end-result. In the first case, the procurement resulted in factors such as shorter lead-times, smoother processes and better quality products. The second case showed that Business Relationship resources such as trust played a great part in the procurement. To grow a stronger Business Relationship, Saab used a supplier in Country X which in turn also ended up being a part of the creation of a new innovative component.  The end discussion is about the benefits that the procurement of ACAB and weather this could be used as a way for Saab to expand their network while also gaining more control over the Supply Chain. This is something that goes against modern-day literature which often argue that the opposite often is to prefer. In the end there is also a short ethical section with the aim to examine why people chose to work in an industry like Saab Dynamics. To gather the data a few interviews were made with the end result that the respondents believe that the industry is necessary for the protection of Sweden and that it “is a human right to feel safe”.