On February 6, 2026, President Trump issued an Executive Order (“EO”) titled “Establishing An America First Arms Transfers Strategy.” This EO represents yet another step in the Administration’s ongoing efforts to transform the defense acquisition and arms transfer systems, following the April 9, 2025 EO 14268 on “Reforming Foreign Defense Sales to Improve Speed and Accountability,” the November 7, 2025 Acquisition Transformation Strategy, and other related EOs (see Fluet analyses of these prior efforts here, here, and here).

There are two main mechanisms for effectuating U.S. arms transfers: first, through the foreign military sales (“FMS”) system, the government-implemented system for transfers of U.S.-manufactured defense equipment to foreign government buyers; and second, through direct commercial sales (“DCS”), commercial transactions between U.S. companies and foreign buyers approved by the U.S. Government through the export licensing process. As of late 2025, the U.S. Government had more than 16,000 open FMS cases valued at $903 billion, along with $200 billion in DCS approvals the prior year, underscoring both the scale and complexity of the enterprise that these efforts seek to transform.

This EO is largely a directive to Executive Branch agencies to draft further plans, strategies, and recommendations. Thus, its practical impact remains to be seen until that follow-on work is completed and implemented. However, we have outlined six key takeaways for the industry.

Fluet’s key takeaways include:

  1. Reorientation of U.S. Arms Transfer Policy: This EO, as with prior Trump Administration reforms to the FMS and DCS systems, represents a significant shift in orientation of U.S. arms transfer On the whole, these efforts deemphasize FMS’ traditional role as a foreign policy tool and instead view FMS primarily as a domestic tool to expand production capacity and promote innovation within the U.S. defense industrial base, thereby enhancing U.S. military readiness. The emphasis under this new approach is on bolstering the defense capabilities of U.S. partners that: (1) invest heavily in their own defense capabilities; (2) provide access or otherwise have a critical role or geography for U.S. operational plans; or (3) contribute to U.S. economic security. Whether this is a minor transformation or a radical rethinking of arms transfer policy will largely depend on how these broad and potentially subjective criteria are implemented and assessed, which remains to be seen. This reorientation is consistent with the Trump Administration’s Conventional Arms Transfer (“CAT”) Policy, first issued in 2018 and reinstated in 2025. The Trump CAT Policy is heavily focused on the impact of potential transfers on U.S. economic security, as well as on maintaining U.S. innovation and technological advantage, which feature less prominently in prior CAT policies.
  2. Prioritization of Key Sales Opportunities: Building on the April 2025 EO’s directive to the Secretaries of War and State to develop and streamline approval processes for priority end-items and recipients, this EO imposes additional requirements to identify and prioritize significant arms transfers. Specifically, the EO directs that within 120 days: (1) the Secretary of War submit to the President a sales catalogue of prioritized platforms and systems for arms transfers; (2) the Secretary of Commerce provide recommendations on how to further enhance U.S. Government advocacy to help U.S. defense companies with foreign procurements; and (3) the Secretaries of State and War identify FMS and DCS opportunities that will support the America First Strategy and grow the U.S defense industrial base. It is not clear whether these lists or other efforts will be made public, or how they will be leveraged to streamline priority sales.
  3. Improving the End-Use Monitoring and Third-Party Transfer Processes: The EO directs the Secretaries of State and War to develop plans to reduce inefficiencies in the Enhanced End Use Monitoring (“EEUM”) and Third-Party Transfer (“TPT”) processes. EEUM, applicable to especially sensitive defense equipment, requires U.S. personnel to conduct physical security assessments of foreign partners’ storage facilities and serial number inventories of designated defense articles transferred to foreign buyers. The TPT review process is an internal U.S. Government review process that must be conducted before U.S. defense equipment can be transferred from one foreign user to another or used for a different purpose than initially provided. These processes are intended to protect sensitive U.S. military and intelligence technologies but are also resource intensive for Department of War (“DoW”) and State personnel, including U.S. embassy personnel overseas.
  4. Streamlining Congressional Notification Submission Processes within the USG: This EO amends a 2013 EO that delegated certain Presidential functions related to arms transfers and export controls. With these changes, Congressional notifications under section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, which notify Congress of FMS cases over certain statutory dollar thresholds, are now delegated to the Secretary of State, instead of the Secretary of War. State is already responsible for submitting Congressional notifications for DCS cases. Moreover, the Secretary of State is required by statute to approve all FMS cases, so State is already closely involved in the FMS process.
  5. Enhanced Transparency: Within 120 days, the Secretaries of State, War, and Commerce are directed to begin to publish aggregate quarterly performance metrics on FMS case development and execution, and on the adjudication of Commerce and State export licenses (for DCS cases). This follows a similar requirement in the April 2025 EO to develop a single electronic system to track DCS and FMS efforts. Although a new online platform for DCS that allows exporters to check the status of export licenses submitted to State and Commerce has already been rolled out (USXPORTS.gov), it does not at this stage include FMS.
  6. Establishment of the Promoting American Military Sales Task Force: Within 30 days, the Secretaries of State, War, and Commerce must establish the “Promoting American Military Sales Task Force” within the Executive Branch. This Task Force will be chaired by the National Security Council (by Acting APNSA Rubio or his designee) and will include Under Secretary-level personnel from these three agencies. The Task Force will meet quarterly, or as required, to review progress towards implementing the America First Arms Transfer Strategy.

These efforts, if fully implemented, would result in significant changes to U.S. arms transfer policies and processes. However, the precise impact of the plans, strategies, and recommendations to be developed by personnel at DoW, State, and Commerce under this EO will ultimately depend on many factors, including the resources dedicated to this effort, the effectiveness of engagement with the private sector, reactions from foreign partners, and Congressional buy-in.

Fluet’s International Trade team has extensive experience supporting manufacturers, exporters, and brokers on the full spectrum of commercial and regulatory aspects of arms transfers and will continue to closely track these reform efforts and their impact on the national security, aerospace, defense, and intelligence sectors.