Block the Use of Transatlantic Technology in Iranian Made Drones Act

This bill orders the U.S. Department of Commerce to write a strategy to stop illegal exports of certain technologies from the United States to Iran for use in Iranian-made unmanned aircraft systems (drones). The strategy must cover items such as microcontrollers, voltage regulators, digital signal controllers, GPS modules, and microprocessors. Commerce must set up processes to find which current and new technologies Iran uses or might use in drones, identify U.S. companies that make these items, and identify foreign makers and distributors that may be helping Iran get them through middlemen. The Department of Commerce must also create a way to share updated information with U.S. manufacturers about third-party distributors and resellers that try to get around export controls for Iran. Commerce must send this strategy to key committees in Congress within 60 days, mostly in an unclassified report, with the option to include a separate classified annex. The bill also directs the Department of State to develop a similar strategy focused on foreign manufacturers and allied and partner countries. State must set up a process to identify foreign companies that make the same types of technologies and work with U.S. allies and partners to line up their export control rules with U.S. rules for these items. State must send its strategy to the same congressional committees within 90 days, again mostly unclassified but with an optional classified annex. In addition, the bill requires the Secretary of Defense, working with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to develop a range of options for the U.S. Armed Forces to counter or deny Iran’s ability to get these technologies. This includes options related to microelectronics, computer-aided design (CAD) software, and computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Defense must complete these options within 30 days and brief the relevant congressional committees within 45 days of the bill becoming law. The bill defines which congressional committees are to receive the strategies and briefings and adopts existing legal definitions for “unmanned aircraft” and “unmanned aircraft system.”