{"id":84200,"date":"2024-08-15T20:58:14","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T20:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/08\/15\/aukus-countries-update-rules-on-sharing-defense-kit\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:02:27","slug":"aukus-countries-update-rules-on-sharing-defense-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2024\/08\/15\/aukus-countries-update-rules-on-sharing-defense-kit\/","title":{"rendered":"AUKUS countries update rules on sharing defense kit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have agreed to new rules for sharing arms \u2014 a major step in the ongoing effort to make their defense industries more accessible to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three nations updated their regulations Thursday, exempting each other from limits on the export of weapons. These rules act like a fence around what equipment each country can share. For example, before Australia could order American weapons, it would first need the State Department to grant a license \u2014 a highly technical application that can take more than a month to process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the amended rules, the U.S., U.K. and Australia \u2014 whose burgeoning trilateral defense partnership is known as AUKUS \u2014 are now taking down much of that fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In America, the change involves updating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, a lengthy bureaucratic process. The State Department Thursday said it would issue an \u201cinterim final rule\u201d<\/a> that will exempt Australia and the U.K. from needing a license for 80% of America\u2019s commercial defense sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese exemptions will facilitate billions of dollars in secure defense trade between and among the AUKUS nations,\u201d said a State Department official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia and the United Kingdom are making similar updates of their own \u2014 implementing laws each country passed to make the changes possible. In a statement, the U.K. said the exemptions will span $643 million of its annual defense exports. Australia\u2019s government said it would end the need for 900 permits required to export goods to the U.S. and U.K. \u2014 covering a value of $5 billion annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\t