With no demand for their military products after 1945, German aircraft factories turned to civilian products.

It is losing money on its civilian products and is being kept afloat by cheap state credits.

The two men are chairmen of a joint committee on the problems involved in converting Russia's huge military sector so it can produce civilian products.

The idea is that workers who produced tanks will be redeployed to make civilian products like sewer pipes.

It also manufactures civilian products, such as air traffic control equipment.

Based on the available evidence, it is not prudent to assume that these same firms could satisfy the demand for civilian products.

The export-import relationship involving civilian products could well have been developed to help cover the export of agents for chemical weapons, officials said.

He added that in electronics, civilian products had improved so much that they now exceed military specifications.

"The control chip in your car is far tougher than milspecs, so you can design using civilian products," he said.

If there were demand for civilian products that defense contractors could produce, they would be in the business already.