By Marina Malenic
The U.S. export control system must be modernized, including how unmanned aerial vehicles are treated under the regime, a top aerospace lobbying group said yesterday.
“How UAVs are treated under the missile technology control regime is very burdensome,” said Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Mario Blakey. “Systems with potential for export are not the kind that should be caught in this process.”
“We want to distinguish between the treatment of UAVs and highly sensitive ballistic missiles,” she told reporters during a teleconference.
Blakey said the market for UAVs is growing, citing a number of civil and commercial applications that allied nations are seeking: natural disaster assessment, environmental monitoring and search and rescue.
Further, AIA yesterday encouraged the Obama administration to take action on a number of initiatives to modernize the export control system in a letter signed by more than 100 aerospace CEOs.
“We have long advocated for a more predictable, efficient and transparent technology control regime that advances our national security interests,” the letter states. “An effective export control system must safeguard critical technologies, as well as facilitate collaboration with our closest allies and international partners.”
The letter identifies five areas of reform to improve the export control system, none of which require new legislation. The list includes: improvements to the U.S. Munitions List and the commodity jurisdiction process; caseload management; and Pentagon decision making on technology release and treatment of unmanned aircraft systems in the multilateral Missile Technology Control Regime.
President Obama in August announced the initiation of an interagency review of export controls led by the National Security Council and National Economic Council.
“We believe that this is a new dynamic and a real opening that the administration has presented,” Blakey said. Because the National Security Council and the National Economic Council are both involved, it is clear that the president is considering both economics and security.”