On January 17, 2025, the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) issued an interim final rule (90 FR 5594) which revises fourteen United States Munitions List (USML) categories. Unless another rule is issued in response to comments, the revisions will be effective September 15, 2025. Previously proposed changes to USML Categories IV and XV are not addressed in this rule.
The rule revises a list of definitions in §121.0 and revises USML categories as follows:
Category II – Guns and Armament
Corrects a typographical error in Note 2 to paragraph (a)(5)
Category IV – Launch Vehicles, Guided Missiles, Ballistic Missiles, Rockets, Torpedoes, Bombs, and Mines
Revises paragraph (c) to clearly control equipment specially designed for improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
Category V – Explosives and Energetic Materials, Propellants, Incendiary Agents, and Their Constituents
Makes minor revisions and corrections
Category VII – Ground Vehicles
Revises Note 3 to USML Category VII to clarify the types of vehicles controlled to include systems described as robots:
Ground vehicles include any vehicle meeting the control parameters, regardless of: the surface upon which the vehicle is designed to operate (e.g., highway, off-road, amphibious, or rail); the manner of control of the vehicle (e.g., manual, remote, or autonomous); or the mode of locomotion of the vehicle (e.g., wheeled, tracked, or multi-pedal).
Category VIII – Aircraft and Related Articles
Clarifies catch-all controls for specially designed parts for specific U.S. and non-U.S. origin aircraft. VIII(h)(1) parts will not be released from VIII(h)(1) through subsequent use in USML Category XXI or “foreign advanced military aircraft.”
Foreign advanced military aircraft, as newly defined in § 121.0, include non-U.S. origin aircraft and foreign derivatives of U.S. origin aircraft, either in development or entering production after 2023, with one or more of the following advanced military capabilities: Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fire control radar, integrated signature management, electronic warfare systems, or the ability to engage targets beyond visual range (BVR).
The new rule supersedes and terminates the temporary modification to USML Category VIII last extended in November, which was focused on parts used in the South Korean KF-21 aircraft. It also further revises the list of U.S.-origin aircraft identified in VIII(h)(1), updating designations and adding the MQ-25 and RQ-170.
Category IX – Military Training Equipment and Training
Removes and reserves paragraph (e)(2) as redundant. IX(e)(2) technical data is already covered by IX(e)(1).
Category X – Personal Protective Equipment
Adds developmental exoskeletons to previously-reserved X(b) and revises the descriptions of body armor protective levels in X(a)(1).
Category XI – Military Electronics
Revises paragraph (c)(10) to remove certain anti-jam antennas and exclude Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPAs) for Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT). Both revisions are intended to support civil global navigation system resiliency.
Category XII – Fire Control, Laser, Imaging, and Guidance Equipment
Updates paragraph (d)(2)(ii) GPS receiving equipment to change references from “Precise Positioning Service” to “Protected Positioning Service.”
Category XIII – Materials and Miscellaneous Articles
Updates office names, revises armor protective levels and descriptions, and adds specific fluids to new paragraph (j)(3).
Category XIV – Toxicological Agents, Including Chemical Agents, Biological Agents, and Associated Equipment
Adds nerve agents and a defoliant and clarifies CARC controls.
Category XIX – Gas Turbine Engines and Associated Equipment
Revises paragraphs (d) and (f)(1) to include additional Department of Defense-funded aircraft engines in development. Revises paragraph (f)(2) to include related cooled structures for combustion chambers and liners.
Category XX – Submersible Vessels and Related Articles
Adds two new classes of uncrewed, untethered vessels and vehicles equipped with anti-recovery features and larger systems with significant range or endurance to new paragraphs (a)(9) and (10).
Category XXI – Articles, Technical Data, and Defense Services Not Otherwise Enumerated
Moves text from paragraph (a) into a new note and adds considerations for designating an article USML Category XXI.
Comments will be accepted through March 18, 2025. Comments are requested especially for the following questions:
- How much would practitioners benefit from the Department defining the term “Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPAs)” as used in USML Category XI(c)(10)? Are there criteria, other than those described in the preamble of this rule, that may help better distinguish between CRPAs described in paragraph (c)(10)(v) and antennas described in paragraph (c)(10)(i)?
- The addition of paragraph (h)(1)(iii) to USML Category VIII ensures that parts, components, accessories, and attachments specially designed for aircraft listed in paragraphs (h)(1)(i) and (ii) are not released from paragraph (h)(1) due to their use in foreign advanced military aircraft described in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of USML Category VIII.
- The Department requests comment on its consideration of adding to paragraph (h)(1) a new paragraph (h)(1)(iv), to retain parts used in paragraphs (h)(1)(i) or (ii) aircraft even when they are used in “aircraft described in paragraph (a)(3) of USML Category VIII,” as the Department assesses that training aircraft described in paragraph (a)(3) often serve as proving grounds for future paragraph (a)(1) or (2) aircraft.
- The Department requests comment on its consideration of expanding paragraph (h)(1) to add parts, components, accessories, and attachments specially designed for the foreign advanced military aircraft listed in paragraph (h)(1)(iii), even if they are not utilized in an aircraft listed in paragraph (h)(1)(i) or (ii), commensurate with the Department’s regulation of similar items for the advanced U.S. aircraft described in paragraphs (h)(1)(i) and (ii). For example, what effect would describing these foreign articles in paragraph (h)(1) have on existing international defense industrial cooperation and supply chains?
- With this rule, the Department changes paragraph (d) of USML Category XIX to read “The following engines:” and then describes specific aircraft engines in paragraphs (d)(1) and (2). The Department requests comment on its consideration of changing that language to “The following engine series:” in order to more completely describe engines that provide a critical military or intelligence advantage.
- Paragraphs (d)(1) and (2) of USML Category XIX describe specific aircraft engines. The Department requests comment on its consideration of expanding that scope to include “military variants” of those engines, similar to its regulation of certain gas turbine engine parts in paragraph (f)(1)(i) of USML Category XIX for military variants of the listed engines.
- Are there commodities, services, or technical data closely related to these revisions that warrant ITAR control, but are currently either not described on the USML, or not described with sufficient clarity? If so, please provide examples and a concise explanation.
- Are there specific commodities, services, or technical data described on the USML following these revisions that are, or have previously been, in normal commercial use, that were previously transitioned to another agency’s jurisdiction, or that were previously determined not to be subject to the ITAR via a Commodity Jurisdiction determination? If so, please include supporting documentation.
- Are there specific commodities, services, or technical data described on the USML following these revisions for which civil use is proposed, intended, or anticipated in the next five years? Please include supporting documentation and a point of contact familiar with the details.
- Are there specific functions, performance levels, or characteristics related to these revisions that could better:
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- Distinguish between the commodities that do, and do not, warrant ITAR control;
- Delineate the criteria for control, in lieu of using the term `specially designed’; or
- Align with the constructions or language used in other USML entries?
- Can any of these revisions be more concisely stated?
The Federal Register Notice contains additional details on how to submit comments.
The rule also notes that some items removed from a USML paragraph may still be described in other USML paragraphs or may become subject to the Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations (EAR). For items moving to EAR control, licenses may be submitted to the Department of Commerce, but will be held without action (HWA) until the effective date of the rule (currently September 15, 2025). Existing DDTC licenses and other approvals may continue to be used.
Watch this space for more upcoming summaries of the winter flurry of rulemaking.