Are Europeans willing to invest in interoperability? A new report says allies must increase spending significantly to stay relevant.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.

Defense contractors and government agencies should work together to help bridge the military interoperability gap between the United States Europe, experts said.

"One thing we discovered is that interoperability is not really a priority. There's nobody who is really in charge at the highest level," said Jacqueline Grapin, the author of a recent report on the subject of U.S.-European interoperability.

The study, titled "Transatlantic Interoperability in Defense Industries: How the U.S. and Europe Could Better Cooperate in Coalition Military Operations," was sponsored by the European Institute, a Washington D.C.-based association.

European countries have been sharply criticized in recent years by U.S. government officials and analysts for making inadequate investments in defense technology.

Critics of Europe's defense investments claim that the United States and European forces will nor be able to fight effectively in coalition operations, because they will not have comparable technology. Additionally, Europeans see that the United States is "willing and able" to act alone in military operations, so they feel pressured to bolster their defense technology in an effort to retain relevance in the NATO alliance, experts said.

During the 1990s, Europe's military budgets dropped below 2 percent of gross domestic product, while the U.S. defense budget stayed relatively constant, at about 3 percent.

Recognizing Europe's inability to send troops alone even to its own backyard to contain conflicts such as the ones in Bosnia and Herzegovina, both American and European officials have started encouraging defense investments that would ensure interoperability with the United States.

Robert Kagan's 2002 article in Policy Review famously invigorated the debate, recommending that Europe build up its military capabilities, even if only marginally," while at the same time saying, "there is not much ground for hope that this will happen." Kagan's only reason for optimism was that "maybe concern about America's overwhelming power really will create some energy in Europe," he wrote.

Unlike other reports and debates on the subject, the European Institute report was not intended to be controversial, said Grapin. "We wanted something that would really address the practical issues of interoperability," she said. This is the only report of its kind that focuses on the problems of defense cooperation from an industrial perspective, she added.

The group formulated its report by putting 75 questions together that were sent to hundreds of people within the defense community. Based on their answers, "we started a series of meetings," Grapin said, and four working groups were created. "One worked on governmental issues between Europe and the U.S.; one worked on financial and industrial issues; the third was norms and technical questions...