NATO Consortium

Okay, so in the 1990s you had several European countries get together and create a supposedly advanced fighter jet for the air force's of continent, the Eurofighter Typhoon.
So why doesn't NATO do that on a regular basis? Why don't all member states contribute money according to a flat tax arrangement and this money is used to build state-of-the-art weaponry that is standard for all NATO members?

Dassault Papillon: Okay, so in the 1990s you had several European countries get together and create a supposedly advanced fighter jet for the air force's of continent, the Eurofighter Typhoon.

If I remember correctly, the Eurofighter Typhoon was funded by NATO upon being commissioned by the European Union. I honestly do not recall for sure, but I know the nations that use it are Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy, and maybe one or two other countries.

So why doesn't NATO do that on a regular basis?

NATO is a multi-national coalition of armies, but in organizational practice, certain country vehicles tend to become unofficially standardized.

The Leopard II series of tanks from Germany are what instantly comes to mind when I think of NATO needing a tank force.

Why don't all member states contribute money according to a flat tax arrangement and this money is used to build state-of-the-art weaponry that is standard for all NATO members?

For starters, not all nations in NATO contribute to the budget equally.

The actual production and purchasing needs to be taken into consideration as well. If the aircraft is produced in America, then the aircraft is considered American. If others wanted it, they would license some from the company that produced them.

Hypothetically this problem could be solved by making a production factory with joint ownership between NATO nations, but that would create technical problems in itself.

As for purchasing, if you make an expensive aircraft, then it wont be bought by smaller countries enough to standardize it. If the aircraft is affordable, then there is no real need to co-finance their creation.

The Eurofighter was never a standardized aircraft, and in every country it is used, there are other models of fighter aircraft that have predominant usage.