On June 8, 2023, top defense trade associations the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), and the Professional Services Council (PSC) released their second set of recommendations to modernize the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and defense trade system. The report, “Volume II: Defense Trade Modernization,” focuses on the Department of State’s role of evaluating and approving 95 percent of FMS cases. As the State Department works to implement its “FMS 2023” action plan to improve the efficiency of the FMS process, the report provides specific legislative and regulatory proposals to streamline, accelerate, and innovate how the United States cooperates with industry to support critical allies and partners.
The report follows a first package of recommendations provided to the Department of Defense’s (DoD) FMS Tiger Team in late 2022. These recommendations focused on DoD’s FMS policies and practices.
