The State Department approved proposed military sales to Poland and Australia worth more than $1 billion combined, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 16. The $150 million sale to Poland is for “AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin. The $895 million sale to Australia is for “Tomahawk Block V and Block IV All Up Rounds” and related equipment, and the prime U.S. contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is “demanding” that TikTok’s owner, China-based ByteDance, sell its shares in the app or face a potential U.S. ban of the app, The Wall Street Journal reported March 15. The CFIUS demand, which the report said came “recently,” is a major shift in policy for the Biden administration, which has been reviewing TikTok for months (see 2209260008). It also comes amid pressure from Congress to quickly conclude the review with strong restrictions between the app and ByteDance (see 2302220024). The Treasury Department didn’t comment.

The State Department approved a potential $104 million military sale to Romania, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 14. The sale includes 95 “Heavy Gun Carriers Joint Light Tactical Vehicles” and related equipment. The principal contractors will be Oshkosh Corp. and Oshkosh Defense.

Saudi Arabia will buy a new fleet of Boeing aircraft, the company announced this week, including 787 Boeing Dreamliners. The Commerce Department said Saudi Arabia chose “GE Aerospace’s GEnx engine to power the aircraft,” which will lead to “billions more in U.S. exports” and support American jobs. Deals “like the one announced today underscore the strength of America’s private sector, workers, and technology in the competitive global landscape,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

The Biden administration's FY 2024 budget request includes funding to support a new outbound investment review “program” and more money for U.S. agencies to carry out export control and sanctions authorities.

Beginning April 1, Maersk will begin invoicing shippers directly for detention charges instead of charging motor carriers by default, it said in a March 6 client advisory. "This change will support our aim to provide timely and accurate detention invoicing to the correct party," the advisory said.

There have been no known security breaches from Chinese-made cranes at U.S. ports, the American Association of Port Authorities said in a news release March 8. The statement came in response to a Wall Street Journal report that some U.S. officials were concerned that Chinese-made cranes, specifically cranes from Chinese company ZPMC, could be a spying tool for the Chinese government and a way for the Chinese government to disrupt the flow of goods. ZPMC now makes 80% of ship-to-shore cranes at U.S. ports, a U.S. official said, according to the report.

The State Department approved two potential military sales, to Japan and Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 7. The $1.38 billion sale to Japan would include “E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Aircraft” and related equipment, and the principal contractor would be Northrop Grumman Corporation Aerospace Systems. The $60.18 million sale to Australia would include “Javelin FGM-148F missiles” and related equipment, and the prime U.S. contractor would be the Javelin Joint Venture between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection relating to technology letters of explanation. The letters provide the agency with a description of a technology in a license application, allowing BIS technical staff to "evaluate the impact of licensing the export on United States national security and foreign policy." It also requires the “consignee” to certify that an export involving controlled technical data will not be released to blocked people or entities. Comments are due May 8.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold a webinar March 21 on the Defense Export Control and Compliance System (DECCS). It will include a refresher on using DECCS, information on commodity jurisdictions, advisory opinions, registration and licensing applications and “an overview of new updates” for the application. The webinar, hosted with the Census Bureau, will also cover “important process updates to Electronic Export Information (EEI) filings through the Automated Export System (AES) when citing United States Munitions List (USML) Category XXI.”