Abstract
Military science and technology have not been much studied in Britain by the science studies community. There is very little work in the economics of research and development (R&D), the politics of science and technology, or the sociology of science on this subject. Nor have the parent disciplines of economics, politics, or sociology devoted as much attention to defense R&D matters as the subject deserves.
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Notes and References
For example, Council for Science and Society, UK Military R&D (report of a working group: rapporteur, P. Gummett) (London: Oxford University Press, 1986 ).
Statement on the Defence Estimates 1986 (London: HMSO, Cmnd. 9763–1, 1986), para. 520–1.
Cabinet Office, Annual Review of Government Funded R&D 1985 (London: HMSO, 1985), table 7.1.
David Weston and Philip Gummett, “The Economic Impact of Military RD: Hypotheses, Evidence and Verification,” Defence Analysis (1987, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 63–76); and Mary Kaldor, Margaret Sharp, and William Walker, “Industrial Competitiveness and Britain’s Defence,” Lloyds Bank Review, No. 162 (October 1986), 39.
Central Organisation for Defence (London: HMSO, Cmnd. 6923, 1946), cited in M. Edmonds (ed.), Central Organisations of Defence (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1985), pp. 87–88.
D. N. Chester and F. M. G. Willson, The Organisation of British Central Government 1914–1964 ( London: Allen and Unwin, for Royal Institute of Public Administration, 1968 ), pp. 236–239.
Edmonds, op. cit.,1985 (5) p. 88.
Government Organisation for Defence Procurement and Civil Aerospace (Rayner Report) (London: HMSO, Cmnd. 4641, 1971).
The Central Organisation for Defence (London: HMSO, Cmnd. 9315, 1984).
See document DO (49)62, discussed at Cabinet, Defence Committee, Minutes, 7 December 1949, London, Public Record Office, CAB 131 /8.
Report by the Committee on the Organisation and Work of the Scientific Branches of the Ministry of Supply and Admiralty“ (Garrod Report), 1951, London, Public Record Office, DEFE 7/282, paragraph 98.
See, for example, Cabinet, Defence Committee, Minutes, 25 May 1950, London, Public Record Office, CAB 131 /8.
Further details of MoD organisation can be found in Council for Science and Society, op. cit.,1986 (1).
J. D. Scott, Vickers, A History ( London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962 ), pp. 301–302.
The Times,13 November 1953.
Margaret Gowing, Independence and Deterrence: Britain and Atomic Energy 1946–1952 (London: Macmillan, 1974), vol. 2, pp. 155–159.
Cabinet, Defence Committee, Minutes, 1 July 1949, London, Public Record Office, CAB 131 /8.
House of Commons, Second Report from the Defence Committee, Session 198586, Statement on the Defence Estimates 1986 (London: HMSO, HC 399, 1986 ), p. 143.
Cabinet Office, op. cit.,1985 (3), data on UGC and research council spending in part II; and Cmnd. 9763-II (2), table 3.2.
National Audit Office, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Ministry of Defence: Management of Work at Research Establishments (London: HMSO, HC 462, 1986 ), p. 13.
For a fairly comprehensive bibliographic guide, see David Edgerton and Philip Gummett, “Science, Technology and Economics in the 20th Century,” in G. Jordan (ed.), British Military History: A Guide to the Recent Literature; A Supplement to Higham’s Guide to the Sources of British Military History ( New York: Garland, 1988 ), pp. 477–499.
See, for example, Financial Times, 10 December 1986.
A good general account is given in L. Freedman, Britain and Nuclear Weapons ( London: Macmillan, 1980 ).
Cited in ibid.,p. 48.
House of Commons, Committee of Public Accounts, 1981–82, Ministry of Defence Chevaline Improvement to the Polaris Missile System (London: HMSO, HC 269, 1982), pp. vi—vii.
Solly Zuckerman, Nuclear Illusion and Reality ( London: Collins, 1982 ), p. 103.
Ibid.,p. 106.
Ibid.,p. 107.
Rayner Report, op. cit. (8), para. 16.
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Gummett, P. (1988). The Government of Military R&D in Britain. In: Mendelsohn, E., Smith, M.R., Weingart, P. (eds) Science, Technology and the Military. Sociology of the Sciences, vol 12/1/2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2958-1_8
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