The Pentagon has launched a wide-ranging push to speed up sales of US arms to foreign allies in an effort to better compete with China and refill the arsenals of friendly nations that have given military gear to Ukraine, SİA informs, citing the Wall Street Journal.
The Pentagon last month created a task force of senior officials to examine longstanding inefficiencies in US sales of billions of dollars of weaponry to foreign countries. The so-called “tiger team” will look at ways for the Defense Department to streamline parts of the program, according to a senior defense official, with the aim of putting coveted American drones, guns, helicopters, tanks and other weaponry into partners’ and allies’ hands faster, officials said.
Increasing tensions with China and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have brought urgency to the review, which began within the Pentagon about a month ago, officials said.
The Pentagon executes much of the foreign arms-sales program but it is overseen by the State Department, which uses the $45 billion in annual weapons sales as a foreign-policy tool to spread American influence. Congress ultimately approves all foreign military sales.
The foreign military sales program has long been seen by lawmakers, industry and government officials as risk-averse and sluggish. Concerns about selling a piece of sensitive technology can slow a sale for years. Officials can scrutinize a country’s military to see if it has competent troops to operate the equipment and safeguards to keep it secure.
That slow pace can leave some countries unsure if the US really wants them as partners and risks sending countries with whom the US wants to stay close elsewhere to shop for arms. Officials in Washington say they must deepen their relationships in a global competition with China that is often measured by who can sell the best, most sophisticated military gear the quickest, and at the cheapest price.
The American foreign military sales system was designed to function during peacetime, not while the US is supplying billions of dollars of military gear to an ally fighting Russia. Its primary goal has been to reinforce America’s allies and partners with American-made weapons. That is advantageous for US national security interests, and cements ties with partners and allies. But growing competition with nations such as China and Russia, which develop advanced weaponry at lower cost, has threatened to offset America’s competitive advantage in the race to arm friendly nations around the world, the WSJ said in the article.
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