Armament (3): In context: Armor Red-White-Red - Weapons for Peace?

A total of 133 Austrian companies are active on the international arms market. They produce tanks and grenades, as well as protective clothing and high-tech products for drone defense. One important customer of these products is the Bundesheer, the Austrian Armed Forces. At the Office for Armaments and Defense Technology in Felixdorf, Lower Austria, everything that is used by the army is tested. Weapons were first tested for their reliability here as early as 1703.

The "Im Kontext" reporters took a closer look behind the scenes of the office and also visited Europe's largest arms fair in Paris. This year, about 1,800 companies presented their products at Eurosatory. The industry is pleased with the global increase in defense budgets. At the same time, the reporters witnessed an industry in transformation: Apart from military customers, police units are becoming increasingly important. The international terrorism and the rise of the topic of "internal security" are leading to a buildup of the police, especially in Europe.

Although the significance of the arms industry is increasing, it still struggles with a bad reputation. Scandals from the past weigh heavily on the industry. Austrian regulations that govern arms exports are considered particularly strict. However, investigations by "Addendum" and "Im Kontext" revealed that these strict regulations could be generously interpreted. Home companies delivered military goods in 2016 to states involved in armed conflicts, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Ukraine. And all this under official permission from the authorities.

How do Austrian arms companies deal with their image problem? How important do they consider their products to be? And would a world without weapons really be a better world?