The United States should be more selective about which countries it sells defense products to, accepting fewer clients to ensure that scarce defense industrial capacity is allocated to best support U.S. national security goals.
A more selective process would sell high-demand, low-supply systems — like air defense and precision munitions — only to partners that play a direct role in advancing U.S. security interests. Potential clients and orders should be prioritized according to their alignment with the U.S. defense strategy. Countries might rank highly because they have committed to fight alongside the United States in a contingency or because they can reduce the U.S. defense burden by protecting themselves.
This approach would reduce wait times for high-priority clients, limit transactions made more for the sake of revenue than U.S. interests, and increase the strategic value the United States derives from defense sales. Though it would halt sales to low-priority clients, defense contractors would still face demand that far exceeds supply, so their bottom lines should not suffer.
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