NATO: Technopolitics in the Air

Europeans call it the arms deal of the century—and they may well be right. Some time this year, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway—four NATO nations acting as a consortium —will buy more than 350 new jet fighters to replace warplanes bought in the 1960s. France and the U.S. are battling fiercely for this sale because the eventual stakes are enormous. The consortium's purchase, involving an investment of at least $1.7 billion, is only the tip of a lucrative iceberg: a worldwide market for thousands of jets, spare parts and maintenance contracts...