Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a 2025 Wash100 awardee, has approved an update to the U.S. government’s policy on the export of unmanned aerial systems in accordance with an executive order seeking to introduce reforms to the foreign defense sales system.
In April, President Trump signed the EO to improve transparency and accountability throughout the system, reduce rules and regulations involved in the development and execution of foreign defense sales and promote U.S. competitiveness abroad.
Save your spot now for the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 GovCon International and Global Defense Summit on Oct. 16 to hear U.S. military leaders and industry experts discuss international partnerships, FMS, tech advancements, coalition warfare and more.
In a fact sheet published Monday, the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said the department will now review drone export requests similar to how it evaluates requests to export manned fighter jets.
Opening New Markets for US Drone Industry
The State Department said the policy shift aims to open new markets for the U.S. drone industry by improving the process of adjudicating foreign defense sales requests.
According to the fact sheet, the policy update complements recent changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime-focused export policy under National Security Memorandum 28 and accelerates reforms introduced under the 2020 Revised UAS Export Policy.
The department noted that it will continue to assess all sales on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer Policy.
Related Articles
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched a $50 billion federal program to enable states to transform the rural healthcare infrastructure to expand healthcare access, improve quality of care and enhance patient outcomes. Hear experts discuss the most pressing challenges facing the healthcare sector, latest tech advancements, policies and more at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 4. Register now for this GovCon networking event! CMS said Monday states have until Nov. 5 to apply for funding under the Rural Health Transformation Program. The agency will announce awardees by the end of December and will
The U.S. Army has launched Army FUZE, a venture-capital-style acquisition program that will channel about $750 million per year into early-stage firms developing technologies for defense missions, Breaking Defense reported Monday. The initiative is designed to accelerate innovation and shorten the path from concept to field deployment. Matt Willis, director of Army Innovation Programs, said FUZE represents a break from traditional, linear acquisition cycles, noting that the military branch is shifting its perspective to the private sector, identifying areas where commercial technology is outpacing the Army and combining its resources with venture capital to speed promising concepts into prototypes and
The U.S. Air Force Space Command has started conducting market research on potential contractors for the Space Domain Awareness Novel Innovation Pipeline for Enhanced Resilience, or SNIPER, initiative. Enhancing Software Tools Through Rapid Prototyping According to the sources sought notice issued on SAM.gov Sunday, the potential contractor will develop advanced software tools to enhance existing SDA systems. The notice seeks vendors with expertise in engineering, research and development capable of performing rapid prototyping of an existing software-based SDA technology, upgrading it from Technology Readiness Level 5 to TRL 8 or 9 for deployment into an operational baseline. The government can benefit