AUKUS countries update rules on sharing defense kit

The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have agreed to new rules for sharing arms — a major step in the ongoing effort to make their defense industries more accessible to one another.

The three nations updated their regulations Thursday, exempting each other from limits on the export of weapons. These rules act like a fence around what equipment each country can share. For example, before Australia could order American weapons, it would first need the State Department to grant a license — a highly technical application that can take more than a month to process.

With the amended rules, the U.S., U.K. and Australia — whose burgeoning trilateral defense partnership is known as AUKUS — are now taking down much of that fence.

In America, the change involves updating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, a lengthy bureaucratic process. The State Department Thursday said it would issue an “interim final rule” that will exempt Australia and the U.K. from needing a license for 80% of America’s commercial defense sales.

“These exemptions will facilitate billions of dollars in secure defense trade between and among the AUKUS nations,” said a State Department official.

Australia and the United Kingdom are making similar updates of their own — implementing laws each country passed to make the changes possible. In a statement, the U.K. said the exemptions will span $643 million of its annual defense exports. Australia’s government said it would end the need for 900 permits required to export goods to the U.S. and U.K. — covering a value of $5 billion annually.

The State Department’s new rule will take effect Sept. 1, and will be open to public comment for 90 days.

Not all weapons will be covered by the change. Some that are still restricted include those listed in Congress’ annual defense policy bill, those relating to missile technology or items banned by international treaties, such as chemical weapons or land mines, the State official said, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity per department policy.

While many of the newly cleared items will help with the defense partnership, some that aren’t exempt relate to AUKUS, a deal to share nuclear-powered submarines and develop advanced technology, such as drones and hypersonics.

Still, the new rules will help enable each country to meet its goals in the defense pact, Richard Marles, the deputy prime minister and defense minister of Australia, said in an interview with Defense News this month.

“This is foundational, in terms of enabling AUKUS, both the submarines and” the pillar focused on advanced technology, Marles said in an interview with Defense News last week.

Australia and the U.K. can also still access equipment on this “excluded technologies list,” or ETL, but they need a license to do so. The State official said the new rule would fast track such applications going forward.

Limits notwithstanding, each country celebrated the change as a major victory.

“This is all happening quickly and remarkably, really, given that this is something that we’ve been pursuing for decades,” Marles said.

Marles was visiting Washington for meetings with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and a summit with the two countries’ top diplomatic officials. There, they announced that by December, Australia and the U.S. would sign plans to build and develop munitions together.

Austin also spoke with his British counterpart over the phone on Wednesday.

“We’ll keep pushing our case with the U.S.,” Marles said, “but the big step has been taken.”