As expected, the State Department yesterday enacted planned export control changes related to technology found in military aircraft and military aircraft engines, which should help boost exports of these technologies.
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The planned control change on the aircraft and engine technologies from the State Department’s U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Department’s Commerce Control List (CCL) was announced during the summer (Defense Daily, July 11). Industry considers controls placed on technologies covered by the USML regulations to be onerous, making it difficult to export technology that in some cases is designed, manufactured and sold internationally by foreign competitors.
“Subjecting these technologies to the export control requirements of the Commerce Control List will allow for more appropriate reviews and restrictions while making trade with America’s closest military allies and partners more predictable, efficient and transparent,” Marion Blakey, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, said in a statement yesterday. “
“Completing the revisions to the USML and moving forward with further licensing caseload management reforms are critical to sustain and grow the global competitiveness of the U.S. defense industrial base. Licensed exports of these two USML categories currently amount to $21 billion a year, a number that will likely increase as 75 percent of these licenses are for exports of parts and components that may transition to the CCL.”
Blakey pointed out that for the moment, the good news on the export control changes is weighed down by the ongoing federal government shutdown. She said the shutdown is affecting issuances of dual-use export licenses by the Commerce Department, making international business more difficult for small and medium-size companies that are also being hurt by stiff budget cuts due to the sequester.