技术特征、政治障碍与美国对外军售——以对中东无人机军售困局为中心的考察

Technical Characteristics,Political Constraints,and US Foreign Arms Sales:An Examination Centering on US Dilemma of UAV Sales to the Middle East

在美国的对外军售中,对中东地区的军用无人机售卖是一个值得考察的议题。近10年来美国在中东进行战略收缩,希望该地区盟友承担更多的安全责任。然而,美国始终未能向其中东盟国出售它们高度关注且亟需的军用无人机,反而“坐视”多个国家进军这一不断壮大的高科技军品市场。美国内有关人权问题的党争政治化和对技术扩散的担忧,是美国向中东国家出售无人机的主要掣肘,而出于对武器装备体系与地区战略平衡的考量,美国也并未在官方层面阻挠其地区盟友从包括中国在内的其他渠道进口军用无人机。武器装备自身的特性、中东国家更加谋求战略自主的现实和美国国内政治极化的制约,使美国目前在中东无人机军售议题上处于进退维谷的尴尬境地,但应注意美国在面临重大挑战后对其军售政策采取相应调整的可能性。

Since the beginning of the 21st century,many new players and types of weapons have emerged in the global arms market,and the arms sales policy of the United States has also undergone a series of changes.In the United States’foreign arms sales,the sale of military drones to the Middle East is particularly worthy of investigation.The United States has been retrenching strategically in the Middle East for nearly a decade,looking to allies in the region to shoulder more of the security burden.However,the United States has never sold the highly concerned and badly needed military drones to its allies in the Middle East,and instead has“sat idly by”watching several countries to enter this growing high-tech military market.This paper argues that the politicization of disputes between political parties over human rights issues and concerns about the proliferation of its own technology are the main constraints for the United States to sell UAVs to Middle Eastern countries,while the US has not officially prevented its regional allies from importing military UAVs from other channels,including China,due to the consideration of weapon and equipment systems and regional strategic balance.The characteristics of weapons and equipment themselves,the reality of the political multi-polarization trend in the Middle East and the constraints of domestic political polarization have currently caught the US’UAV sales to the Middle East in a dilemma,but we should pay attention to the possibility of the United States to make corresponding adjustments to its arms sales policy in the face of major challenges.