USML Category XII: fire control, lasers and night vision

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1. Fire control and aiming

Category XII of the United States Munitions List (USML) covers "Fire Control, Laser, Imaging, and Guidance Equipment" (22 CFR 121.1). This piece covers the first three paragraphs, on fire control, lasers and imaging, including night vision. Guidance, navigation and components are covered in Category XII, guidance, navigation and components.

Paragraph (a) lists fire control, aiming, detection, guidance and tracking systems (22 CFR 121.1). Eight of its nine entries carry an asterisk, designating them Significant Military Equipment under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 CFR 120.10). They are fire control systems, electronic or optical weapon positioning, laying or spotting systems, and certain laser spot trackers used with controlled laser designators (22 CFR 121.1). Bomb sights and bombing computers are included, as are electro-optical systems that automatically detect and locate ordnance launch, blast or fire. So are electro-optical ordnance guidance and tracking systems and remote wind-sensing systems specially designed for ballistic-corrected aiming.

The ninth entry, without an asterisk, covers helmet mounted display (HMD) systems not controlled in Category VIII (22 CFR 121.1). They are caught if they incorporate or interface, by wire or wirelessly, with optical sights or slewing devices that aim, launch, track or manage munitions. They are also caught if they control the category’s infrared imaging systems. The examples given are the Combat Vehicle Crew HMD, Mounted Warrior HMD, Integrated Helmet Assembly Subsystem and Drivers Head Tracked Vision System.

2. Lasers

Paragraph (b), with an asterisk, covers laser systems and end items (22 CFR 121.1). It includes laser target designators and coded target markers that mediate delivery of ordnance to a target. Target illumination systems with variable beam divergence and a wavelength exceeding 710 nm are included. So are systems using laser energy above 710 nm to detect optical equipment by its retroreflectance, called optical augmentation systems.

Laser rangefinders are caught by wavelength and performance (22 CFR 121.1). At 1064 nm any Q-switched pulse output is enough. Above 1064 nm the test is ranging of 3 km or more within one second, or 1 km or more at 3 Hz or greater. Both are measured against a standard 2.3 m x 2.3 m NATO target at 10% reflectivity and 23 km visibility. Targeting systems combining a laser rangefinder with a paragraph (d) guidance or navigation article are covered. So are light detection and ranging and range-gated systems specially designed for a military end user, and developmental lasers funded by the Defense Department under documents dated October 12, 2017 or later.

3. Night vision and imaging

Paragraph (c), also with an asterisk, covers imaging systems (22 CFR 121.1). Its first entry reaches binoculars, bioculars, monoculars, goggles and head or helmet-mounted imaging systems, including video-based articles with a separate near-to-eye display. They are caught if they use an autogated third generation or higher image intensifier tube. They are also caught if they fuse an intensifier tube with an infrared focal plane array peaking above 1,000 nm, or have an infrared array or camera and are specially designed for a military end user.

Weapon sights and clip-on aiming or imaging systems are covered where designed to mount to a weapon or withstand its shock or recoil (22 CFR 121.1). They must also incorporate an infrared array peaking above 1,000 nm, or a second generation intensifier above 350 µA/lm or third or higher generation tube. Ballistic computing electronics for adjusting the aim point, or an infrared laser above 710 nm, also qualify them.

Further entries cover electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition systems, infrared search and track systems, and distributed aperture systems (22 CFR 121.1). Several kinds of infrared imaging system are listed. They include mobile reconnaissance systems recognizing a target beyond 3 km, stabilized airborne reconnaissance systems, multispectral targeting systems and missile warning systems. Hardened systems, persistent surveillance systems and high-stabilization gimbaled systems are included. The target for the 3 km recognition test is a NATO standard tank target with a frontal cross-section of 2.3 x 2.3 meters and a side cross-section of 2.3 x 6.4 meters. Persistent surveillance systems are caught at a ground sample distance of 0.5 m or better from 10,000 ft or higher, with simultaneous coverage of 3 square kilometers or more. Terahertz imaging systems, combat identification beacons and scene projectors for testing sensors follow, then developmental imaging systems funded under documents dated October 12, 2017 or later.

Further entries in paragraph (c) set their own measuring rules (22 CFR 121.1). Terahertz concealed object detection systems operating from 30 GHz to 3000 GHz are caught at a resolution better than 0.1 milliradians at 100 m, or when specially designed for a military end user. Gimbaled infrared systems are caught with stabilization better than 30 microradians RMS and a turret ball of 15 inches or greater, or when specially designed for military use. Scene projectors are caught above a frame rate of 30 Hz in stated ultraviolet or infrared bands.

4. Who is a military end user

Many of these entries depend on whether an item is specially designed for a military end user, and a note defines the term (22 CFR 121.1). It means national armed services, the national guard, national police, government intelligence or reconnaissance organizations, and any person or entity whose actions or functions are intended to support military end uses. An item is not specially designed for a military end user if it was developed knowing it would be used by both military and non-military users, or with no knowledge of a particular end user.

The note also sets the evidence (22 CFR 121.1). For a self-determination of jurisdiction, documents made at the time of development must establish that knowledge. In a commodity jurisdiction determination, the government may rely on post-development information showing such knowledge. The same idea of contemporaneous documents appears in the general definition of specially designed (22 CFR 120.41).

Key terms

Military end user	Armed services, national guard, national police, intelligence organizations and those supporting military end uses.
Image intensifier tube	A night vision tube, controlled in weapon sights from second generation upward and in viewers from autogated third generation upward.
Focal plane array	An infrared sensor array, controlled in viewers and sights above set wavelengths or when designed for military end users.
Laser target designator	A laser that marks a target to mediate delivery of ordnance.
Optical augmentation	Using laser retroreflectance to detect enemy optical or electro-optical equipment.

Every statement above links to the document behind it. The full source list for this piece is on the sources page.

This page describes public United States government programs for general information. It is not legal, regulatory or procurement advice, and it does not address the facts of any particular case.

How Sentfore supports this

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