--- description: The State Department announced new policies Tuesday that will govern the export of U.S. military and commercial drones. title: U.S. Will Allow Export of Armed Drones image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # U.S. Will Allow Export of Armed Drones  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 17, 2015 10:52 PM CUT  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 17, 2015 10:52 PM CUT The State Department announced new policies Tuesday stipulating that U.S. drones can only be exported through government programs and that the receiving country needs to agree to certain conditions about what the drone will be used for. Under the new rules, exports of armed military drones must be made through government entities and the nations receiving the devices must agree to “end-use assurances,” [according to the State Department](http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/02/237541.htm "undefined"). “The new U.S. UAS \[unmanned aerial systems\] export policy provides a disciplined and rigorous framework within which the United States will exercise restraint in sales and transfers and advance its national security and foreign policy interests,” [says a State Department fact sheet](http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/02/237541.htm "undefined"). These new proposals come amid increasing controversy and [uncertainty over the use of drones](http://time.com/3708993/defend-drones/ "undefined"), after one [crashed onto the White House lawn](http://time.com/3682307/white-house-drone-crash/ "undefined") last month. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3712578/us-export-armed-drones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3712578/us-export-armed-drones/"},"headline":"U.S. Will Allow Export of Armed Drones","datePublished":"2015-02-17T22:52:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:04:27.142Z","description":"Export requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis","url":"https://time.com/3712578/us-export-armed-drones/","keywords":["Tech","Drones","State Department"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3712578/us-export-armed-drones/","name":"U.S. Will Allow Export of Armed Drones"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: New Drone Rules","description":"The FAA has proposed new drone regulations","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/R5l6vcej/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-17T16:45:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/R5l6vcej.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3712578/us-export-armed-drones/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3712578/us-export-armed-drones/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```