U.S. Should Relax Export Rules: Northrop

May 3, 2011 By Rhys Jones/Reuters AviationWeek.com

The United States could boost its defense exports by easing restrictions on information about the technology used on its military hardware, the chief executive of U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman said. The United States operates under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the country’s State Department. The rules control exports of defense products and often restrain the export of sensitive technology and data such as those used on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to other markets such as the Middle East. “The U.S. has been very focused on protecting its technological edge but that has probably done damage to its defense industrial base,” Northrop CEO Wes Bush said in a speech in London on Tuesday. “These policies intended to keep this technology for the U.S. but encouraged other nations to develop their own technologies, meaning the U.S. lost valuable export opportunities.” As well as boosting exports, easing restrictions on all but the most sensitive programs would help the United States improve relationships with allies and allow it to forge new partnerships, he said. “The U.S. would protect everything regardless of what it was but that needs to be relaxed—we need higher walls around fewer things,” said Bush. “More technology sharing will broaden the market for defense products and will lead to more robust partnerships.” Defense companies around the world have been hit by a slowdown in defense spending by Western governments in recent months. Bush urged the British and U.S. governments to work more closely with industry to find ways to speed up the procurement process while also cutting costs. “Economic and budgetary pressures are as dire as we have seen them, so we must do something about the affordability and timing of so many important defense and security programs,” Bush said. “Government and industry need to embrace innovation as a way to solve problems and better integrate systems we already have.” Bush said he expects the cybersecurity market to see huge growth in the coming years as threats by state and non-state groups aimed at disrupting military, transport, utility and other networks grow. “The magnitude of the vulnerability faced by networks is not understood but there is growing concern by companies who don’t know what to do and are waiting to be told what to do by governments,” Bush said.