Fri, Aug 19, 2011
Northrop Grumman CEO Warns US Could Lose Industry Lead
The general aviation manufacturing sector in the US increasingly
struggles to compete in the world marketplace due to the delays and
costs of federal regulation, but it's far from alone in that
plight. Robotics developers, particularly those developing unmanned
aerial systems and other unmanned weapons, say the US now risks
losing its lead in the field to clumsy congressional meddling.
Northrop Grumman President and CEO Wes Bush was a keynote
speaker at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International Conference in Washington, DC Wednesday. He warned,
"Today’s export restrictions are hurting this industry in the
US without making us any safer, and it could cause the US to
relinquish the cutting edge to other countries, ultimately."
The specific rules at issue are called ITAR within the industry,
which stands for International Traffic in Arms Regulations. They're
designed to keep US technology from falling into enemy hands, but
they sometimes prevent US companies from equipping our allies. Bush
says that could cost the US defense industry, one of the few left
with a positive balance of trade, $94 billion over the next decade
if nothing changes.
National Defense magazine reports Bush noted it wouldn't be the
first time. "We made it impossible for US companies to sell
satellites to our allies. We somehow thought that we had a corner
on that technology—satellites—but we were very badly
mistaken. The very policies that were intended to keep this
technology secure for us actually encouraged others...to develop
their own...they even market their products as ITAR-free. America
lost valuable export opportunities and we are no safer as a result.
We need to learn from that lesson and several other lessons just
like it."
Regarding Obama administration attempts to reform the
overbearing laws, and recent cooperation on UAS with NATO allies,
Bush concluded on an optimistic note. "These are positive
indicators that perhaps we will not make the mistakes that were
made in satellites. But we need to continue to push
collectively."
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