Foreign Military Sales
Sentfore Insights
This note explains what the Foreign Military Sales programme is, which parts of the United States government run it, who is allowed to buy through it, and how large it is.
The legal authority for Foreign Military Sales, the division of responsibility between the Department of State and the Department of Defense, how eligibility is decided, the agreement that records a sale, and the published size of the programme.
Any individual transfer, any assessment of a recipient country, and any question of whether a particular sale should proceed.
Foreign Military Sales, usually shortened to FMS, rests on the Arms Export Control Act, codified at 22 U.S.C. 2751 and the sections that follow it. The Act authorises the President to sell defense articles and defense services from Department of Defense and Coast Guard stocks to an eligible country or international organisation that agrees to pay in United States dollars (22 U.S.C. 2761(a)(1)). A separate section authorises the government to enter into contracts to procure articles and services for sale to a foreign country, where that country provides a "dependable undertaking" to pay the full amount (22 U.S.C. 2762(a)).
Those two provisions describe the two ways an FMS requirement is met. The article is either drawn from existing stock or bought new under a government contract.
Before anything is sold, four conditions in 22 U.S.C. 2753(a) must be satisfied. The President must find that the transfer "will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace". The purchaser must agree not to transfer title or possession onward without consent. It must agree to provide "substantially the same degree of security protection" the United States would provide. And it must otherwise be eligible.
Responsibility is split, and the split is the single most useful thing to understand about the programme.
The Security Assistance Management Manual, the Department of Defense manual that governs day to day administration, states that security assistance programmes are "subject to the continuous supervision and general direction of the Secretary of State to best serve U.S. foreign policy interests" (SAMM C1.1.2.2). Once a purchaser is eligible, it is the Secretary of State who "determines whether there will be a sale to a partner or international organization and the amount thereof" (SAMM C4.2.1).
The Department of Defense then carries it out. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, DSCA, "directs, administers, and provides guidance to the DoD Components" for executing these programmes (SAMM C1.3.2.2). DSCA does not itself buy anything. The work of building and running an individual case sits with an implementing agency, which is a military department organisation or a defence agency responsible "for the overall management of actions for delivery of the materiel, supporting equipment, or services" (SAMM C1.3.2.6).
DSCA states the division plainly on its own page: "Secretary of State determines which countries will have programs. Secretary of Defense executes the program" (DSCA, Foreign Military Sales).
Eligibility is a presidential determination, not an application a country files. The manual states that the government may sell, grant or lease "only if the President makes a determination that the prospective purchaser is eligible based on the criteria summarized in Table C4.T1" (SAMM C4.1.1). Those criteria come from section 505(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act and section 3(a) of the Arms Export Control Act.
Eligibility can also be lost. The manual lists statutory grounds, among them that no security assistance may be furnished to a country whose government "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights" (SAMM Table C4.T3, citing section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act).
DSCA states that "some 189 countries and international organizations participate in FMS" (DSCA, Foreign Military Sales FAQ). That page carries no publication date, so the figure is best read as approximate.
Eligibility answers who may buy. The manual separately limits what may move. Napalm is excluded outright: "Napalm, including napalm thickener, dispensers, and fuses, will not be provided through FMS or commercial contracts" (SAMM C4.5.4). Riot control agents "will not be provided via FMS, but certain types are available on a commercial basis" (SAMM C4.5.5).
Training carries its own restriction. The manual records that the Arms Export Control Act "does not prohibit police training or related programs". It adds that section 660 of the Foreign Assistance Act "generally prohibits use of funds available to carry out the FAA for police training", subject to exceptions. Approval must be obtained before such training is offered (SAMM C4.5.7.3).
An FMS sale is recorded in a Letter of Offer and Acceptance, the LOA. The manual defines it as "the legal instrument used by the USG to sell defense articles, defense services including training, and design and construction services to a foreign country or international organization under authorities provided in the Arms Export Control Act" (SAMM C5.6.1).
A signed LOA is not yet a live case. Implementation happens when an authorised representative signs, any required initial deposit has been received and deposited, and the data system transactions have occurred. At that point, in the manual's words, "the FMS case is a government-to-government agreement between the purchaser government or international organization and the United States" (SAMM C5.6.13).
That phrase is the defining feature of the programme. The purchaser's counterparty is the United States government, not a company.
The Department of State publishes annual figures. For fiscal year 2025 it reported that "the total value of transferred defense articles and services and security cooperation activities conducted under the Foreign Military Sales system was $104.38 billion", down 11.47 percent from $117.85 billion in fiscal year 2024 (Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, 16 March 2026).
The same fact sheet breaks that figure down. It gives $75.90 billion funded by allies and partners with their own money, $17.92 billion through the Foreign Military Financing programme, and $10.56 billion through Building Partner Capacity and certain State Department programmes. It also reports 16,098 FMS cases overseen in that year, "with an open case value of over $934 billion".
The open case value is the more revealing number. It measures work already agreed and still running, which is what a supplier or a partner government is joining when a new case is signed.
| AECA | Arms Export Control Act, the statute authorising the programme. Codified at 22 U.S.C. 2751 and following. |
|---|---|
| DSCA | Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Department of Defense agency that directs and administers the programme. |
| LOA | Letter of Offer and Acceptance, the instrument that records the sale. Defined at SAMM C5.6.1. |
| SAMM | Security Assistance Management Manual, DSCA 5105.38-M, published at samm.dsca.mil. |
| Implementing agency | The military department organisation or defence agency that builds and runs an individual case. SAMM C1.3.2.6. |
This note describes public United States government programmes for general information. It is not legal, regulatory or procurement advice, and it does not address the facts of any particular case.
Sentfore works with organisations operating in the environments where transferred equipment and the people who use it have to be supported once delivery is complete. Its current services cover protective security, armored transport and secure movement, secure facilities and life support, technology and sensor integration, and contingency and expeditionary operations. Sentfore's principals have worked on overseas defense and security programmes in the regions where these questions arise. Enquiries about support requirements in a specific country can be sent through the contact page.
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