Josselin Droff, a researcher at the Chair, publishes the article «European cooperation in maintaining defence equipment in operational condition: an analytical framework derived from economic geography».» in the peer-reviewed journal Defence and Security Analysis.
From the fundamental concepts of geographical economics, This article provides an original framework for analysing the dynamics of pooling of Maintenance in Operational Condition (MCO) services at work in Europe.
That's right, defence equipment MCO costs are rising, This is for technical reasons (new, more expensive military technologies, complexity of systems) and also for non-technical reasons (ageing equipment, excessive stress on equipment, conditions of use, diseconomies of scale linked to the reduction in fleets).
Most countries in Europe are confronted with these problems of cost growth under severe budgetary and usage constraints (e.g. projection of forces on external operations). One possible solution is to share costs between countries to benefit economies of scale. Pooling MCO activities means that maintenance costs fall as the number of countries increases.
However, as the number of participating countries increases, the «distances» are multiplying (geographical, normative and political distances) and generate costs. These costs are likely to have an impact on the choices made by countries, and therefore act as a brake on pooling.
The article describes this mutualisation of MCO in Europe through a power play centripetal (all the advantages offered by pooling) and centrifugal (all the costs generated by pooling).
This analysis grid takes into account the following factors multidimensional trade-offs (economic, industrial, political, operational and strategic) underlying the organisation of MCO in Europe. Several cases of cooperation are highlighted and discussed.
