The Conversion of Military R&D in the Russian Arms Industry

The solution to the problems of converting military science depends upon the ability of the national economy to make effective use of the technical and intellectual potential concentrated in military industry. It depends also upon any measures taken by the state to preserve the existing level of social protection for scientists, technicians and workers and to stimulate speedy structural change in this branch of industry. Finally, it depends on the laws regulating the orderly integration of the converted science and production into the civilian economy. In the transitional stage of conversion from a centrally controlled economy, characterized by a total monopoly on property and most kinds of resources and by the absence of economic mechanisms such as taxes, profits, prices, credit and the like, we cannot assume that the process of converting military science will be rapid and effective.