USML Category XIX: gas turbine engines

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1. Military engines by capability

Among the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) categories, Category XIX of the United States Munitions List (USML) covers "Gas Turbine Engines and Associated Equipment" (22 CFR 121.1). Paragraphs (a) to (e) all carry an asterisk, which puts them in the Significant Military Equipment class (22 CFR 120.10). Technical data for the manufacture or production of such engines takes the same status. The aircraft these engines power are covered in Category VIII, aircraft and related articles.

Paragraph (a) covers turbofan and turbojet engines capable of 15,000 lbf (66.7 kN) of thrust or greater, including technology demonstrators, developmental engines and variable cycle engines (22 CFR 121.1). Thrust alone is not enough. The engine must also have one of five features: an afterburner, or thrust augmentation, and thrust or exhaust nozzle vectoring are two. The others are certain classified parts, a design for sustained 30 second inverted flight or negative g maneuvers, or a design for high power extraction above 50,000 feet, meaning more than 50 percent of engine thrust at altitude.

Paragraph (b) covers turboshaft and turboprop engines with either of two features (22 CFR 121.1). One is capability of 2000 mechanical shp (1491 kW) or greater with oil sump sealing designed for the engine in the vertical position. The other is a specific power of 225 shp/(lbm/sec) or greater, with a design for armament gas ingestion and non-civil transient maneuvers. Specific power is maximum takeoff shaft horsepower divided by compressor inlet flow.

Paragraph (c) covers gas turbine engines specially designed for listed unmanned aerial vehicle systems, cruise missiles or target drones (22 CFR 121.1). It carries the (MT) annotation for engines used in an unmanned aircraft or missile with a range of 300 km or more. The (MT) marker points to the Missile Technology Control Regime Annex (22 CFR 120.10).

2. Engines named in the list

Paragraph (d) names engines outright (22 CFR 121.1). Paragraph (d)(1) lists the AGT1500, CTS800, GE38, GE3000, HPW3000, MT7, T55, T408 and T700. A note says these engines are licensed by the Commerce Department when incorporated in an aircraft subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and controlled under Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 9A610. In all other circumstances they are subject to the ITAR. Paragraph (d)(2) lists the XT900. The XT900 also appears in the named-engine parts entry below.

So the same engine can fall under either regime (22 CFR 121.1). Installed in an EAR aircraft, it follows that aircraft’s Commerce license. Shipped on its own as a spare or for overhaul, it remains a defense article under the ITAR.

3. Engine controls

Paragraph (e) covers digital engine control systems specially designed for engines in the category, such as full authority digital engine controls and digital electronic engine controls (22 CFR 121.1). A note describes them as systems that autonomously control the engine throughout its operating range, from demanded start to demanded shut-down, in normal and fault conditions. The (MT) annotation applies where the system is for an unmanned aircraft or missile with a range of 300 km or more.

4. Parts for named engines

Paragraph (f)(1) covers parts, components and accessories specially designed for a named list of engines (22 CFR 121.1). The list is the F101, F107, F112, F118, F119, F120, F135, F136, F414, F415, J402, T901, XA100, XA101, XA102 and XA103, and their military variants. The XT900 and engines in a Category XXI determination are added. Parts common to engines that are or were in production and are not on the list are excluded.

A note gives an example (22 CFR 121.1). A part common to the F110, which is not listed, and the F136, which is, falls outside paragraph (f)(1). A part common only to the F119 and F135, both listed, falls inside, subject to the specially designed analysis. That analysis generally treats a part for use in or with a defense article as specially designed, with stated exceptions (22 CFR 120.41).

5. Hot section and other components

Paragraph (f)(2), with an asterisk, covers hot section parts specially designed for engines in the category (22 CFR 121.1). They include combustion chambers and liners, high pressure turbine blades, vanes and disks, and cooled turbine parts at the intermediate, low pressure and power turbine stages, together with cooled augmenters and nozzles. Uncooled turbine blades, vanes, disks and tip shrouds are covered, as are combustor cowls, diffusers, domes and shells, and engine monitoring systems for prognostics, diagnostics and health.

Further entries cover investment casting cores, core dies and wax pattern dies for the controlled engine parts (22 CFR 121.1). Pressure gain combustors and three-stream fan systems that move airflow between streams to control fan pressure or bypass ratio are covered. So are high pressure and intermediate compressors with bypass streams at a pressure ratio greater than one. Jigs, fixtures, templates, gauges, molds, dies, caul plates and bellmouths specially designed for the named engine parts complete the list. One entry, with an asterisk, catches anything classified, containing classified software tied to defense articles or 600 series items, or being developed using classified information.

6. Technical data

Engine technical data and defense services linked to paragraphs (a) to (f) come under paragraph (g) (22 CFR 121.1). It also controls classified technical data about items in ECCNs 9A619, 9B619, 9C619 and 9D619, and defense services using that data. Paragraph (x) covers Commerce-controlled items shipped with the engines. A defense service includes assistance to foreign persons in the repair, maintenance or modification of defense articles, so repairing a listed engine for a foreign person can itself be a defense service (22 CFR 120.32). Such services need the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls to approve an agreement, usually a technical assistance agreement, before the work starts (22 CFR 124.1). Paragraphs (h) to (w) are reserved (22 CFR 121.1).

Key terms

Thrust augmentation	An afterburner, one of the five features that bring a large turbofan or turbojet into paragraph (a).
Specific power	Maximum takeoff shaft horsepower divided by compressor inlet flow.
FADEC	A full authority digital engine control, covered when made for engines in the category.
Hot section	Combustion chambers, turbine blades, vanes and disks and related cooled structures.
ECCN 9A610	The Commerce entry for military aircraft, under which installed paragraph (d)(1) engines are licensed.

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

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