The U.S. government plans to propose a change to an arms control agreement in an effort to facilitate exports of unmanned aerial vehicles designed for military use, Defense News reported Tuesday.Sources said U.S. officials released a white paper about the proposed amendment to the Missile Technology Control Regime during a plenary session held in October.
MTCR is a treaty among 35 countries that sets rules on missile and UAV exports and subjects to a “presumption of denial†“category-1†platforms with a payload capacity of 500 kilograms at a distance of least 300 kilometers.
Under the proposed MTCR amendment, any drone that operates under 650 kilometers per hour would be classified as “category-2†and would be reviewed for approval on an individual basis.
The reclassification of drones to category-2 would enable the U.S. to sell the UAVs to other countries through direct commercial sales or foreign military sales agreements, the report added.
