WASHINGTON \u2015 A new RAND report assessing the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles suggests existing export controls for drones may hurt the U.S. more than it helps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Limiting U.S. drone exports has left a hole in the global market for the technology, especially in historically U.S.-dominated Middle East markets, which has been readily filled by U.S. competitors \u2014 specifically China and Russia. The Trump administration recently unveiled a new set of export policies<\/a> regarding military technology in an attempt to facilitate the transfer of military technology, but the changes do not change the status of drones under the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How does the MTCR work?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n The MTCR is a voluntary export control consortium of 35 nations designed to prevent signatories from proliferating longer-range cruise and ballistic missile technology. The arms control regime was extended to UAVs because early iterations of drones were considered a subset of cruise missile<\/a> technology due to their active guidance system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The regime divides missiles into two categories. Category I items are capable of delivering a 500 kg payload more than 300 km. The sale of category I systems is restricted by a \u201cstrong presumption of denial,\u201d meaning they are only exported in rare circumstances. The MQ-9 Reaper<\/a>, RQ-4 Global Hawk<\/a> and MQ-4 Triton<\/a> are well-known unmanned systems that fall under this category.<\/p>\n\n\n\t