Procurement: May 17, 2001

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The "Technology Gap" inside NATO is growing wider and threatens to destroy the alliance. During the Kosovo War, it was quickly discovered that US precision-guided weapons and airborne jammers were so much superior to the equipment used by NATO allies that they might as well not show up for the war. The NATO nations promised to spend the money to buy the modern weapons, but have (for the most part) simply not done so. The political leadership of the NATO countries simply no longer believes it necessary to maintain top-level military forces, and has decided to spend its money on social programs and similar items. NATO nations routinely cancel training exercises as they do not have the money in their budgets to conduct even the limited training of the post-Cold War era.--Stephen V Cole