{"id":42590,"date":"2020-06-12T15:09:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/12\/trump-administration-considering-new-plan-to-ease-drone-export-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:33:34","slug":"trump-administration-considering-new-plan-to-ease-drone-export-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/06\/12\/trump-administration-considering-new-plan-to-ease-drone-export-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration considering new plan to ease drone export rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014The Trump administration reportedly plans to reinterpret a key arms agreement<\/a> that governs the sale of unmanned aircraft, opening the door for more countries to buy drones from U.S. defense contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Reuters<\/a>, the Trump administration plans to loosen its interpretation of the Missile Technology Control Regime<\/a>, an agreement among the U.S. and 34 other nations that governs the export of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report does not exactly lay out how the White House\u2019s interpretation of the MTCR will change, but it likely involves how the administration construes the phrase \u201cstrong presumption of denial.\u201d Currently, the U.S. government\u2019s interpretation of that clause leads to a blanket denial of most countries\u2019 requests to buy \u201ccategory-1\u201d systems capable of carrying 500-kilogram payloads for more than 300 kilometers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House\u2019s National Security Council is set to review the change during a June 16 meeting, according to Reuters. The departments of Commerce, Energy, Justice and Homeland Security signed on to the new interpretation in May, and key industry stakeholders \u2014 including General Atomics and Northrop Grumman \u2014 have already been notified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Department could approve the first UAV sales under the new interpretation as soon this summer, a U.S. official and multiple industry executives told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has made loosening arms sale restrictions a major priority, but so far the changes to drone export policies have not had the impact desired by defense companies, which argue that they continue to lose sales to China and Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a June 3 event on drone export policy, Keith Webster, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce\u2019s defense and aerospace export council, said the administration has made some positive changes \u2014 including the approved sale of General Atomics MQ-9 Sea Guardian drones to India \u2014 but \u201cfor the policy changes, it has been disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t