US to designate Russia’s UAC, China’s AVIC as military users

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has unveiled plans to add 103 Russian and Chinese entities to its list of military end-users, therefore subjecting them to export restrictions. The expanded list includes Russia’s aircraft manufacturer holding UAC United Aircraft Corporation (Zhukovsky) and parts of China’s counterpart AVIC, but not COMAC (Shanghai Pudong). “This action establishes a new process to designate military end users on the MEU List to assist exporters in screening their customers for military end users. The Department recognizes the importance of leveraging its partnerships with U.S. and global companies to combat efforts by China and Russia to divert U.S. technology for their destabilizing military programs,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said. Notably, China’s leading commercial aircraft developer COMAC, which manufactures ARJ21-700s and is developing the C919, has not been included on the list.  The list does not include the Ilyushin Design Bureau (Zhukovsky), which produces Il-76 freighters and is the developer of Il-114 regional turboprops. The DOC said the list was still subject to public and interdepartmental review. The former is due to start on December 22, 2020. According to US law, a special licence, granted on a case-by-case basis, is required for the export of any components to any of the companies included on the MEU list.