Washington, DC – Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed out of markup the AUKUS Reform for Military Optimization and Review Act (ARMOR) Act (H.R. 4233), a bipartisan bill that would streamline and strengthen the Australia, United Kingdom, and United States (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership.
Watch Rep. Kim speak in support of the bill during the markup HERE.
“Bureaucratic delays to the AUKUS agreement weaken our ability to counter threats and protect our national security,” said Congresswoman Kim. “The ARMOR Act expedites backlogs so that AUKUS can promote peace through strength and meet 21st century threats head-on.”
AUKUS is a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States formed in 2021 to foster collaboration on advanced technologies like nuclear-powered submarines, AI, and hypersonic capabilities. There are two pillars of AUKUS:
- Pillar I is focused on helping Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
- Pillar II focuses on joint development and sharing of advanced technologies to boost military and defense capabilities. The ARMOR Act specifically relates to Pillar II.
Specifically, the ARMOR Act strengthens the expedited review process for AUKUS transfers, exports, and other activities involving advanced technologies and defense articles and services by:
- Expanding the expedited licensing to include retransfers;
- Removing the congressional notification requirement on certain AUKUS transfers;
- Requiring a report on implementation of expedited review for export licenses; and,
- Requiring an annual review of the Excluded Technology List to ensure the list is relevant and aligned with AUKUS goals.
