The aerospace industry has finally won its long, twilight struggle to sell drones overseas:
The Obama administration unveiled a new policy Tuesday allowing foreign allies to buy military drones, a move that could have potentially far-reaching implications for global security partnerships and the U.S. aerospace industry.
….U.S. officials suggested the drone sales could become a new tool for expanding American influence overseas. “We are interested in building strong and capable international partners,” said a senior State Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the policy. “Now we have established a process that will help build those partnerships through the acquisition of this technology.”
What could go wrong? Nothing, of course, because we’ll be keeping a sharp eye out for abuses:
Each country eager to buy U.S.-made drone technology would also be required to agree to “end-use monitoring and potential additional security conditions.” Those restrictions would be designed to limit potential misuse of drones, such as attacks against a country’s own civilian population.
In fairness, America has always sold loads of lethal technology to its allies, and this was probably inevitable. Once a technology becomes available, it’s going to spread one way or another. As a result, governments everywhere will be soon able to conduct warfare against weaker states without any of the restraints that possible loss of lives provides today. Progress!
