WASHINGTON and FARNBOROUGH — US firms seeking to tap into ballooning European defense budgets are finding a new roadblock emerging: a desire by European capitals to avoid US control of weapon sales.
There have long been concerns about how American International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) restrict foreign governments’ ability to sell or transfer domestically built weapons that contain components originating in the US. And that concern is becoming harder to ignore as skepticism surrounding US and European relations has led to a serious push on the continent to move away from buying weapons with US-controlled parts, according to a half-dozen people who talked to Breaking Defense.
“I see that as a growing trend that needs to happen within the EU, as sort of, like, an edict that’s come out,” Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier told Breaking Defense during last month’s Farnborough Airshow.
European governments have “been very, very clear in terms of how they want to fund, where they want to fund, their desire to have a more sovereign exposure,” Currier added. “That’s going to be an ongoing trend going forward.”
Currier isn’t alone in his view, with industry officials, analysts and lawyers also monitoring the changing market.
