The Allied Defense Sales Act aims to boost multinational procurement from the U.S. by encouraging foreign partners to participate in military sales and commercial processes. The Secretary of State will develop a strategy to survey interest, identify potential lead purchase coordinators, review participation pathways, address challenges, expedite authorizations, and highlight the benefits of multinational procurement. The Secretary will also submit reports every 180 days, detailing the strategy's progress, challenges, legislative changes required, and efforts to promote exportable defense articles, including those supporting the AUKUS partnership. The report will be unclassified but may include a classified annex. The act defines appropriate congressional committees, the AUKUS partnership, and multinational procurement processes.
Allied Defense Sales Act
This bill directs the Department of State to implement a strategy to encourage foreign entities to participate in a multinational military procurement process. The State Department must also periodically report on the strategy and its implementation.
Under the bill, this process involves the sale by the United States to a lead foreign nation of defense articles or services which are subsequently transferred to other qualifying countries.
The strategy must incorporate existing efforts by the State Department to, for example, survey interest, identify countries and partners who could serve as lead purchase coordinators, review pathways for participation for countries that are ineligible for foreign military financing loans, identify challenges and solutions regarding compliance with the Arms Export Control Act, and identify opportunities to develop and promote exportable defense articles and services (including for purposes of supporting the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States).
