صنعتی سازی نظامی و توسعه اقتصادی: صنایع دفاعی اردن

Jordan is a recent entrant to the domestic defense industry with the establishment of King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) in 1999. The defense industrial initiative is intended to jumpstart industrialization across a range of sectors. With the Jordanian defense expenditures at 8.7% of GDP, the Jordanian authorities created the defense industry to utilize defense budget spending power and to assist in economic growth without placing additional demands on the national budget. This study examines Jordan's attempt to establish a defense industry and reviews its accomplishment. The study also compares the economic achievements of the defense industry to those of the Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ), another major government facilitated economic development mechanism.

Jordan is a recent entrant to the domestic defense industry with the establishment of King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) in 1999. As a measure of the importance Jordan attaches to the creation of this fledgling industry, KADDB was established by royal decree, and reports directly to the King of Jordan.1 KADDB is to provide scientific and technical services to the Jordan Armed Forces, to supply defense and commercial equipment customized to meet the needs of clients in the Middle East and North Africa, and to assist Jordan in creating a sustainable industrial base that would complement commercial civilian applications.2 Jordan markets itself as the “Gateway to the Middle East” and within that context, KADDB has positioned itself as the “Technology Partner of Choice for the Middle East and North Africa.

Whether KADDB can have a positive influence on the Jordanian economy is still an open question. The success of the development of an indigenous military industry is dependent on the existing level of civilian industrialization. Working against the success of military industries in Jordan is the very same thing that the military industries have envisioned creating, a civilian industry. The developing nations that have had some measure of success in defense production, such as Brazil, South Africa, Taiwan, and South Korea, had a foundation of a diversified civilian industrial sector. The evidence in support of the economic gains resulting from the establishment of military industries is quite mixed for developing countries since defense industry is less productive than civilian industry; research indicates that the reallocations from defense spending to other forms of government spending increase employment. In addition, investment in defense production and poor choices of military technology lead to underinvestment in civilian industries, thus, defeating the purpose of using defense industrialization to jumpstart civilian industries.