The U.S. Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program facilitates sales of U.S. arms, defense equipment, defense services, and military training to foreign governments. The purchaser does not deal directly with the defense contractor; instead, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency serves as an intermediary, usually handling procurement, logistics and delivery and often providing product support, training, and infrastructure construction (such as hangars, runways, utilities, etc.). The Defense Contract Management Agency often accepts FMS equipment on behalf of the US government.
FMS is based on countries being authorized to participate, cases as the mechanism to procure services, and a deposit in a US Trust Fund or appropriate credit and approval to fund services.
USAF FMS programs are assigned two-word codenames beginning with the word PEACE, indicating oversight by USAF Headquarters. The second word in these codenames is often chosen to reflect some facet of the customer, such as MARBLE for Israel or ONYX for Turkey. Codenames appear in all capital letters.
Also, not all countries use this program, a notable one being Canada and most other Western nations who negotiate directly with the manufacturer.
Current US Air Force FMS cases include military sales to Pakistan, Iraq and Egypt. FMS cases that are in pre-award status (as of 2nd Quarter FY 2011) are India & Saudi Arabia.
No partner nation has yet succeeded in applying strict schedule clauses to a FMS program.
Read more about Foreign Military Sales: See Also
Famous quotes containing the words foreign, military and/or sales:
“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.”
—Stephen Decatur (1779–1820)
“His ugliness was the stuff of legend. In an age of affordable beauty, there was something heraldic about his lack of it. The antique arm whined as he reached for another mug. It was a Russian military prosthesis, a seven-function force-feedback manipulator, cased in grubby pink plastic.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you.... Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs.”
—St. Francis De Sales (1567–1622)