Defense Grant Funding Research on Arms Market
Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Mississippi State University are collaborating on groundbreaking research to evaluate a key part of the military arms ecosystem, capabilities that are resold, refurbished, discounted, or dated (R2D2).
They will be working with the Defense Security Cooperation University, the Department of Defense’s organization managing the transfer of U.S. military capabilities to other countries, on a two-year project with funding that totals $477,333.
Research often focuses on high-end, expensive systems, but this team has coined the term “value arms” to describe those R2D2 capabilities it will study.
“Value arms can be militarily effective depending on the threat environment and are found in militaries across the globe,” according to the researchers’ description of the project. “As we see in Ukraine, value arms are pieced together in practical applications to achieve mission capabilities. Understanding the values ecosystem is essential for the US because Russia and China are major value market suppliers.”
The research will provide a foundation to further investigate what political and economic benefits and costs participants gain from the value market ecosystem, with the potential to inform defense and foreign policy.
“We will create the first dataset on the value arms market (R2D2 equipment) currently being operated, as well as their suppliers and operators,” explained Vasabjit Banerjee, an assistant professor in UT’s Department of Political Science. “Future research by us and other scholars will use this data to study defense manufacturing and the international arms trade across the world.”
The research also could have implications for economic development in Tennessee and across the Southeastern region. “We think that manufacturing R2D2 equipment—in collaboration with countries like South Korea, Turkey, and India—can bring manufacturing jobs to Tennessee,” he explained.
A graduate assistant and undergraduates will be hired to work on the research at UT, particularly political science majors with prior knowledge and interest in the topic, Banerjee said. The project will give them experience in conducting and presenting research.
“Working on constructing datasets that can be used for statistical testing and creating interactive websites to present the data will provide students with valuable skills for jobs in government and the private sector,” he noted.
The researchers had a tight deadline for submitting the grant proposal and received support from the Office of Research and Creative Activity for the College of Arts and Sciences.
“The team at ORCA, namely Laura Wright, Stacey Wade, and especially Annie Brown, were critical to helping us organize the submission, create the budget, and guide us through the process,” Banerjee said. “It would have been impossible to get it done without their help.”
By Amy Beth Miller