*WASHINGTON: United States will export lethal US-made drones to potentiallydozens more allies and partners, according to people familiar with theplan.*
Trump is expected to ease rules for such foreign sales under a long-delayednew policy on unmanned military aircraft due to be rolled out as early asthis month, the first phase of a broader overhaul of arms exportregulations.
US drone manufacturers, facing growing competition overseas especially fromChinese and Israeli rivals who often sell under lighter restrictions, havelobbied hard for the rule changes.
The White House is expected to tout the move as part of Trump’s “BuyAmerican” initiative to create jobs and reduce the US trade deficit.
Human rights and arms control advocates, however, warn it risks fuelingviolence and instability in regions such as the Middle East and South Asia.An announcement of the new policy has been held up for months amiddeliberations on how far to go in unleashing drones exports. That delayprompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to write to Trump’s national securityadviser H.R. McMaster to press him to expedite the policy shift to avoidlosing out on sales to certain countries, an industry source and two USofficials said.
A key thrust of the policy will be to lower barriers to sales of smallerhunter-killer drones that carry fewer missiles and travel shorter distancesthan larger models such as the iconic Predator drone, the sources said.Export regulations will also be eased for surveillance drones of all sizes,they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Even though Trump will stop short of completely opening up sales oftop-of-the-line lethal drones, it will mark a major step toward overcominga long-standing US taboo against selling armed drones to countries otherthan a handful of Washington’s most trusted allies. Military drones havechanged the face of modern warfare, with US models in greatest demand.
Trump’s aides had initially focused mostly on devising ways to boost salesof “eye in the sky” drones used for tracking and targeting. But after amore than year-long review, they have crafted a plan that will reinterpretsome rules to allow for more armed drone sales overseas.
A list of potential buyers being given fast-track treatment is expected toexpand to include more NATO members, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf partnersas well as treaty allies such as Japan and South Korea, the people familiarwith the plan said.
Also likely to be in the favored group would be key partners such as India,Singapore and Australia as well as many of the 35 signatories to theMissile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an international agreement thatsets rules for export of missiles and related weaponry. The only sales ofarmed U.S. drones in recent years have been to Britain and Italy.
“We’re getting outplayed all over the world,” a U.S. official told Reuters.“Why can our competitors sell to our own allies the equipment they areclamoring to buy from us? This policy is meant to turn that around.” -Agencies