Washington, April 20: The Trump administration has unveiled a new policy that could vastly expand sales of armed drones, making it easier to put American-made weapons into the hands of US allies and partners.
With the plan that was rolled out on Thursday, the administration sought to lift -- what it viewed -- as self-imposed policy restrictions that limited potential opportunities for business, the New York Times reported.
However, according to experts, the move posed grave risks to US security as the newly-released conventional arms transfer policy will put jobs and the interests of arms manufacturers ahead of safety, security and human rights in its decisions on who the US should arm.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has shown an "insatiable appetite" for selling American weaponry abroad -- at times using face-to-face meetings with global leaders to make a personal sales pitch.
Under the new Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) export policy, private US defence companies will now be allowed to directly sell certain types of conventional weapons and a broader range of unmanned drones to allies without having to go through the US government, CNN reported.
Trump seemed to foreshadow the new policies during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday when he said at a that after allies order weapons from the US, "we will get it taken care of, and they will get their equipment rapidly".
"It would be, in some cases, years before orders would take place because of bureaucracy with Department of Defence, State Department.
"We are short-circuiting that. It's now going to be a matter of days. If they're our allies, we are going to help them get this very important, great military equipment," Trump said.
The biggest change announced involved the sale of larger armed drones like the Predator and the Reaper, which were the workhorses of the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan.
Former President Barack Obama embraced the weapons but was also so troubled by such remote warfare tools that he placed unusual restrictions on their sale, the Times report said.
"The new drone export policy will keep our defence industrial base in the vanguard of emerging defence technologies while creating thousands of additional jobs with good wages and generating substantial export revenues," said Peter Navarro, assistant to the President for trade and manufacturing policy.
Under the old policy, only Britain, France and Italy were approved to purchase armed drones, said Dan Gettinger, co-director of the Centre for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
As more countries are approved, "the risk is that countries may be more willing to use military force when they can do so without risking their own people", Gettinger said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
