Experts: US Must Loosen Restrictions on UAV Exports

WASHINGTON — If the US does not change limitations on the exportability of unmanned systems, it could drive partner nations to either build platforms domestically or purchase designs from countries like China, a panel of experts said today.

Without a change in export policy, partners “will be incentivized to build them themselves, or they will simply buy them from others,” Michael Horowitz, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told the audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Building partner capacity to substitute or supplement for American capabilities is an important national security priority, and there is a strong demand signal” for UAVs, Horowitz said. “This is a technology many are interested in.”

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