HR4233-119

What This Bill Does

The ARMOR Act says Congress believes the President should work with Australia and the United Kingdom to address extraterritoriality issues that create inefficiencies in defense repair, maintenance, and sustainment for defense articles and services not on the Excluded Technologies List. The operative section amends the AUKUS-related defense trade provisions enacted in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

The bill expands the expedited review process to all exports and transfers, including reexports, retransfers, temporary imports, and brokering activities, that occur wholly within or between the geographic territory of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, or the United States. It changes the covered application language so the expedited process applies to transfer, export, reexport, retransfer, temporary import, or brokering applications for defense articles and services in that trusted-country framework. It requires the President to report within 180 days and annually for 15 years on implementation, number of licenses issued, principal applicants, and defense articles and services licensed. It also amends the Arms Export Control Act so congressional notification requirements under section 36(c) and 36(d) do not apply to defense articles or services subject to the exemption. Finally, State, in consultation with Defense, must review the ITAR Excluded Technologies List annually for a five-year covered period and every three years thereafter to ensure it includes only items that require continued licensing review for national-security reasons.

Who Benefits and How

Australian defense firms, United Kingdom defense firms, Canadian defense firms, U.S. defense firms, defense repair providers, defense maintenance providers, defense sustainment providers, AUKUS technology integrators, and principal applicants for covered licenses benefit because the bill broadens trusted-country defense trade, reduces notification friction for exempt transfers, and pressures agencies to keep the Excluded Technologies List narrow.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The President, State Department defense trade staff, Defense Department technology-security staff, ITAR compliance officers, congressional foreign-affairs staff, congressional leadership offices, companies handling excluded technologies, and export-control watchdogs must comply with annual 15-year reporting, applicant and article disclosures, exemption administration, congressional-notification changes, and recurring Excluded Technologies List reviews.

Key Provisions

• Expands AUKUS defense-trade expedited review to include Canada.
• Applies the framework to exports, transfers, reexports, retransfers, temporary imports, and brokering activities.
• Covers activity wholly within or between Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Requires annual presidential reports for 15 years on implementation, licenses, applicants, and covered defense articles or services.
• Removes section 36 congressional notification requirements for exempt defense articles and services.
• Requires recurring State-Defense review of the ITAR Excluded Technologies List.