The Libyan weapons shop-window

To take out Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses, Western powers such as France and Italy are using the very aircraft and weapons that only months ago they were showing off to the Libyan leader. Times change, allegiances shift, but weapons companies will always find takers for their goods. The Libyan no-fly zone has become a prime showcase for potential weapons customers, underlining the power of western combat jets and smart bombs, or reminding potential buyers of the defensive systems needed to repel them.

Almost every modern conflict from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo has served as a test of air power. But the Libyan operation coincides with a new arms race — a surge of demand in the $60 billion a year global fighter market and the arrival of a new generation of equipment in the air and at sea. For the countries and companies behind those planes and weapons, there's no better sales tool than real combat. For air forces facing cuts, it is a strike for the value of air power itself.

"As soon as an aircraft or weapon is used on operational deployment, that instantly becomes a major marketing ploy; it becomes 'proven in combat'," says a former Defense export official with a NATO country. To convince potential buyers, Defense equipment needs to be tested and survive what marketers call a "hot war." A 'hot war' gives arms buyers a chance to cut through marketing jargon and check claims are justified. "Everyone is looking at Libya. It is definitely a showcase," one western Defense company official told Reuters

"Battle-testing is something often referred to by the arms industry as an important factor for promoting their wares to export customers," says Paul Holtom, director of the Arms Transfers Program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

What buyers and the world's military attaches are actually watching out for may be far less dramatic than Top Gun-style dogfights, which are unlikely to feature in the one-sided Libyan campaign. Instead, according to industry executives, prospective buyers will be hungry for detailed information on reliability, the ability of aircraft to operate seamlessly with other forces or systems and the ability of operational squadrons to generate high sortie rates for the minimum amount of repair.

"This is turning into the best shop window for competing aircraft for years. More even than in Iraq in 2003," says Francis Tusa, editor of U.K.-based Defense Analysis. "You are seeing for the first time on an operation the Typhoon and the Rafale up against each other, and both countries want to place an emphasis on exports. France is particularly desperate to sell the Rafale."

The rewards are huge. India, Brazil, Denmark, Greece, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Kuwait are among a growing list of countries shopping for one or more of the fighters flying sorties over Libya. The deal of the moment: India's plan to buy 126 fighter jets, an order which should be worth an estimated $10 billion. Reliability, say industry experts, is likely to be the key to winning the exports. Four of the six companies in the running to sell New Delhi planes — Dassault's Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin's F-16 and Boeing's F/A-18 — have already helped enforce the no-fly zone over Libya. A fifth contender, the Saab Gripen, arrived in Sicily at the weekend, ready to take part in the first air combat action by the Swedish air force in decades.

"Sarkozy has done a great job in getting the Rafale out there and hitting a convoy early on. He will go to export markets and say this is what our planes can do," said a defense executive from a rival arms producing nation.

But it's not just offensive equipment such as planes and missiles. Aerial shock and awe provides free advertising for companies that build early warning systems and missile defenses.

"Libya is a reminder that if you can't compete on the level of attack platforms, then you need to compete on the level of Defense systems," says Siemon Wezeman, senior fellow at SIPRI. "Libya had reasonable air defenses and yet they didn't make a dent. If you want to defend yourself, you need either the aircraft or the defensive systems. You will see countries asking people like Russia and China what they can provide."

The basis of capitalism is production for profit, so in its remorseless drive for profit it leads to conflict, and eventually armed conflict. The worship of arms and armaments, the glorification of battles and destruction, has not a separate existence of its own, it is merely the instrument of those who wield power in the countries of the world. Capitalist trade rivalries create antagonism and the government responsible for administering capitalism in each country responds to it by organising the military forces and preparing for war. Only by destroying capitalism which engenders war, and replacing it by socialism in which the human race will have no need to engage in fratricidal conflict will the world be rid of capitalism's handmaiden militarism.