The Trump administration on Friday relaxed rules governing the export of armed drones, making it easier for American companies to sell the deadly unmanned aerial systems in a bid to compete with China’s growing foothold in the market.
The White House and State Department jointly announced the change, which will allow the sale of armed drones with a “maximum airspeed less than 800 kilometers per hour.” The new standard means that American drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper now could be sold to allies and partners much more easily.
In enacting the new policy, the administration reinterpreted its view of key portions of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an informal missile proliferation agreement between 35 nations designed to limit the spread of weapons. China, which has been exporting its own armed drones to countries around the world, is not a member of the pact.
Administration officials say that the current regulations limit American companies’ ability to export products and also force some allies to rely on inferior Chinese craft.
“Not only do these outdated standards give an unfair advantage to countries outside of the MTCR and hurt United States industry, they also hinder our deterrence capability abroad by handicapping our partners and allies with subpar technology,” said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
“This action … will increase our national security by improving the capabilities of our partners and increase our economic security by opening the expanding UAS market to United States industry,” she continued. “It also sets a strong example for other MTCR partners to adopt the same standard.”
State Department officials stressed that the change in no way means that the U.S. will relax its review process when deciding whether to approve drone sales to foreign countries. Officials said the administration still views the MTCR as an “important nonproliferation tool to curb the spread of high-end missile technologies to countries such as North Korea and Iran.”
But critics say the decision is another example of the administration simply deciding to disregard parts of international agreements that it doesn’t like rather than trying to renegotiate deals with its partners. They also argue that the move opens the door to the U.S. selling highly effective, deadly drones to nations with spotty human-rights records.
Such sales, they argue, could result in widespread civilian casualties in the Middle East and other war-torn parts of the world.
“From the beginning of its term, the Trump administration has been focused on short term economic gains rather than a longer term focus on U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” Rachel Stohl, vice president of the Stimson Center and a leading analyst in weapons and arms control, wrote on Twitter. “The human rights records and patterns of misuse by recipient countries is ignored in an attempt to support the false mythology that arms sales generate and protect U.S. jobs. Perhaps even more distressing is that the United States continues to dismantle and undermine international agreements that encourage restraint and control over lethal weapons.”
Those concerns are shared by many other foreign policy and defense analysts. But supporters of the move argue that China’s rapidly growing drone export policy necessitated a change in American policy.
“For too long, the restraint of the international community with regard to exports of large unmanned aircraft has created an opportunity for the Chinese military to advance its defense technology and industrial base, and to build new defense relationships around the world, including with traditional U.S. partners,” said Sen. Jim Risch, Idaho Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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