31.   A quiet threat to anti-missile success is the defense industry itself, which loves the huge contracts but is reeling after years of mergers and cutbacks.

32.   A spokesman for GKN said the two companies have held talks on the direction of the European defense industry.

33.   After Israel was founded, he was charged by his mentor, Ben-Gurion, with building the defense industry.

34.   After World war II ended, Europe went through the same drastic consolidation that the U.S. defense industry is now experiencing.

35.   After sitting out the merger frenzy in the defense industry, Raytheon Co. has decided it has to play if it wants to stay.

36.   After retiring from the defense industry, he worked part time approving construction permits for the town of Dover.

37.   All European defense industries are facing similar realignments, with the idea that a pan-European consolidation phase will follow.

38.   But amid consolidation in the defense industry, the company was seen as a likely takeover target by a larger contractor.

39.   Budget cutbacks have forced an ongoing consolidation of the defense industry, shrinking the pool of bidders for military projects.

40.   But British officials privately said that the Clinton administration had brought too little influence to bear, too late, to forestall a European surge in defense industries.