Tel Aviv: The Israeli defence industry will have to adapt to deal with the new US defence export policy. “This is a critical moment. The Israeli ministries of defence and foreign affairs have to make a fast changes otherwise the local defence industry will find itself in a very tricky situation,” a senior defence industry source said.
The US president decision is another chapter in a long-running effort to overhaul the heavily regulated process of selling military hardware abroad.
On April 9, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to expedite the sale of weapons to foreign clients.
The order titled “Reforming Foreign Defence Sales to Improve Speed and Accountability” was issued by the White House in response to industry and international customer complaints regarding the often drawn-out acquisition process. It aims to “ensure predictable and reliable delivery of American products” by streamlining the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process to “achieve cost and schedule efficiencies”.
According to a statement from the State Department, the President signed an executive order to reform America’s foreign defence sales system. The policy change in the US has again raised heavy concerns in the Israeli defence industries.
For some time now, the Israeli defence industries are trying to change the ministry of defence export regulations by pointing to the major steps of defence companies in foreign countries, so that by selling without restrictions get the budgets for future developments.
The Israeli export of the Israeli defence industries is strictly controlled by a special department in the ministry of defence. Sources in the defence industries have claimed that in many cases the restrictions are not justified.
“Israel has to keep some technologies for its exclusive use but in many cases export licenses are denied which opens the market for foreign companies,” one of the sources said.
The Israeli ministry of defence was reluctant to comment on the issue. The Israeli source pointed to the Turkish UAV industry as an example. “This industry has grown in recent years in an almost unprecedented pace because it sells to any customer.”
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
