The US State Department officially announced that Donald Trump had approved changes to the regulations governing export sales, transfer, and subsequent use of American-made UAS. This new regulation in this area will replace the previous one, the adoption of which was announced in April 2018. In making the changes, the US government is invoking its national right to interpret the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) “presumption of denial” in the transfer of Category I systems. It should be emphasized here that all potential deliveries of military UAS will continue to be assessed on a case-by-case basis to take into account all US interests. At this point, I would note that this approach seems reasonable and worth to be conducted further.
The primary reason – according to my personal point of view – for the appropriacy of the mentioned policy is the necessity to increase American presence in the market. Within the scope given, new technologies (especially drones) might be considered a great source of economic and political influence in international relations, which is crucial for the US – a leading global actor. The situation in which China is primed to take advantage by simply copying American technologies in this regard cannot be accepted (Tucker 2018). The loose tights of the export of UAS are likely to improve the state of the art. Moreover, there is an obvious beneficial factor in the framework of domestic affairs of the country. A plethora of related American companies benefits from the changes as they are able to export more drones, which diversifies and enriches the sources of the overall US welfare.
Nevertheless, there are some cons of the updated policy that might be identified, which is evident from the statements and positions of some officials. The Trump administration’s decision provoked various reactions, including critical remarks in the United States itself. For example, Senator Robert Menendez (of New Jersey) of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee called the move a “reckless decision” that would lead the US to export the deadliest weapons to human rights violators around the world (US Senate Committee 2020). Earlier, Menendez advocated blocking the sale of weapons by the Trump administration to Saudi Arabia. Rachel Stohl, vice president of the Stimson Center for Defense, called the White House’s unilateral decision another attack on international agreements and global arms control (Stohl 2020). Hence, the proclaimed crucial disadvantages are the possibility of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) spread and the established legal order violation. However, these cons do not seem to overweight the pros and even cannot be justified due to the following.
The updated policy presupposes the maintenance of tight restrictions, including the “presumption of denial”, on those weapon systems that pose a high risk of delivering weapons of mass destruction (WMD), such as cruise missiles, hypersonic aircraft and modern combat drones’ aircraft (US State Department 2020). At the same time, barriers to the export of commercial and conventional military UAS are being reduced. Then, the United States declares that it remains a full member of the MTCR and considers it an important tool for curbing the spread of high-tech missile technologies to countries such as North Korea and Iran.
The State Department confirmed that all potential military UAS shipments would continue to be assessed by the State Department in accordance with the conventional arms trade policy to counter technology leakage. All UAS transmissions will be screened in accordance with US international non-proliferation obligations, including in accordance with the requirements of the MTCR. For example, the transfer of armed UASs can be carried out through direct commercial contracts or under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, unless other instructions or restrictions related to a particular transaction require that the transfer be made through the FMS. As a condition of the transfer, recipients will be required to agree not to include foreign or unauthorized systems in UAS armaments without prior permission from the US government. Transfers of unarmed UAS can be made through direct commercial contracts or through the FMS program unless other instructions or restrictions pertaining to a particular transaction require the transfer to be made through FMS (Mehta and Insinna 2020). As a condition of the transfer, recipients will be required to agree not to arm UAS using the US or foreign equipment without permission from the US government.
All civilian UAS continue to be subject to licensing requirements and compliance with Export Control Regulations, and export decisions will take into account the objectives outlined in the updated policy and the six non-proliferation factors of the MTCR. Justifying the decision during a speech at the Hudson Institute, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford claimed the following. The administration had unsuccessfully urged other MTCR members to come to a common position, but the United States would not allow their interests to be held hostage by foreigners responsible for making decisions (Ford 2020).
Finally, it should be stressed again that large American corporations have been lobbying for a long time to loosen restrictions on the export of “heavy” UAS, because of which they suffered losses in competition with Chinese, Israeli and even Turkish manufacturers. The economic benefits from the updated policy are apparent, and there are no cons coming from this angle. Then, the expressed concerns regarding the spread of dangerous weapons are addressed by effective legal regulations, including the rules of transfer and adherence to the MTCR provisions.
References
Ford, Christopher. 2020. “The New U.S. Policy on UAS Exports: Responsibly Implementing the MTCR’s “Presumption of Denial”.” New Paradigms Forum. Web.
Mehta, Aaron and Insinna Valerie. 2020. “Trump Admin Expected to Ease Drone Export Rules Friday.” DefenceNews.
Stohl, Rachel. 2020. “Drones and the Development of International Standards.” Forum on the Arms Trade. Web.
Tucker, Patrick. 2018. “China’s Beating the US to Market on Combat Drones, By Copying US Technology.” Defense One, Web.
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 2020. “Menendez Statement on Administration’s loosening of Regulations to Export Drones.”
US State Department. 2020. “U.S. Policy on the Export of Unmanned Aerial Systems.” Web.