US Policy on sale of drone – Recent changes and their implications

The American government’s policy initially was against export both armed and unarmed drones. The notable exceptions to this policy was UK, which is the only country to which USA sold armed drones, and France and Italy, to which USA sold unarmed surveillance drones.

Recently, however, the government changed its policy prohibiting American companies from selling drones to other countries. It has now allowed American companies to export drones for both military and commercial purposes.  However, the sale of drones would be subject to compliance with a number of conditions. While most of the criteria remain classified, some of the conditions to be fulfilled before the sale of drones is allowed have been made public.

Stipulations

USA aims to develop global standards governing the use of drones along with other nations; and the export of drones is expected to be a mechanism in aid of that. USA has put in place strict conditions for sale of military drones:-

• The sale must be routed through the government
• The government will review each country’s request to buy drones on a case by case basis
• Countries buying the drones must accede to certain end-use assurances as stipulated by the American government. The drones must not be used to exercise unlawful force against the population or to conduct unlawful surveillance. They can be used only for national Defence purposes and in scenarios where use of force is permitted under international law
• Countries will have to specify to the American government their reasons for procuring drones
• USA reserves the right to monitor the use of its drones to ensure that its stipulations are being complied with

Repercussions

The deployment of drones has vastly increased, be it for purposes of warfare, law enforcement, maintaining stability, targeting terrorists/insurgents etc. There is a great demand for both commercial as well as military drones in the international market. Till now, American companies were not in a position to reap the benefits of this demand. But now, American drones will be able to compete at the global level with drones built by Israel, China etc, to which it has been losing business up until now. China has exported drones to over nine countries, including UAE, Egypt and Pakistan.

Additionally, the possession of drones by American allies will ease some of the pressure on US to carry out all its missions involving drones single-handedly. USA could now delegate the task of carrying out surveillance missions etc to its trusted allies.

Despite the limited safeguards put in place by the American government, there is still the risk of the drones ending up in the wrong hands. If the drones were sold to unstable government, the drones could easily be taken by insurgents or terrorists or militants. Considering the dangers associated with usage of drones which has even led to loss of lives of many innocent civilians, the proliferation of drones caused by USA also entering the market is worrisome.