PUBLIC LAW 110–429—OCT. 15, 2008 

NAVAL VESSEL TRANSFER AUTHORITY 


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122 STAT. 4842 PUBLIC LAW 110–429—OCT. 15, 2008 

Public Law 110–429 

110th Congress 

An Act 

To authorize the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign recipients, and for 

other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

TITLE I—NAVAL VESSEL TRANSFER 

SECTION 101. SHORT TITLE. 

This title may be cited as the ‘‘Naval Vessel Transfer Act 

of 2008’’. 

SEC. 102. TRANSFER OF NAVAL VESSELS TO CERTAIN FOREIGN RECIPIENTS. 

(a) TRANSFERS BY GRANT.—The President is authorized to 

transfer the vessels specified in paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 

section 501(a) of H.R. 5916 of the 110th Congress, as passed the 

House of Representatives on May 15, 2008, to the foreign recipients 

specified in paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of such section, respectively, 

on a grant basis under section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j). 

(b) GRANTS NOT COUNTED IN ANNUAL TOTAL OF TRANSFERRED

EXCESS DEFENSE ARTICLES.—The value of a vessel transferred to 

a recipient on a grant basis pursuant to authority provided by 

subsection (a) shall not be counted against the aggregate value 

of excess defense articles transferred in any fiscal year under section 

516 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j). 

(c) COSTS OF TRANSFERS.—Any expense incurred by the United 

States in connection with a transfer authorized by this section 

shall be charged to the recipient (notwithstanding section 516(e) 

of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j(e))). 

(d) REPAIR AND REFURBISHMENT IN UNITED STATES SHIPYARDS.—To the maximum extent practicable, the President shall 

require, as a condition of the transfer of a vessel under this section, 

that the recipient to which the vessel is transferred have such 

repair or refurbishment of the vessel as is needed, before the 

vessel joins the naval forces of the recipient, performed at a shipyard 

located in the United States, including a United States Navy shipyard. 

(e) EXPIRATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority to transfer a 

vessel under this section shall expire at the end of the 2-year 

period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

President. 

President. 

Naval Vessel 

Transfer Act of 

2008. 

Oct. 15, 2008 

[H.R. 7177] 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–429—OCT. 15, 2008 122 STAT. 4843 

TITLE II—UNITED STATES ARMS 

EXPORTS 

SEC. 201. ASSESSMENT OF ISRAEL’S QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE 

OVER MILITARY THREATS. 

(a) ASSESSMENT REQUIRED.—The President shall carry out an 

empirical and qualitative assessment on an ongoing basis of the 

extent to which Israel possesses a qualitative military edge over 

military threats to Israel. The assessment required under this subsection shall be sufficiently robust so as to facilitate comparability 

of data over concurrent years. 

(b) USE OF ASSESSMENT.—The President shall ensure that the 

assessment required under subsection (a) is used to inform the 

review by the United States of applications to sell defense articles 

and defense services under the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 

2751 et seq.) to countries in the Middle East. 

(c) REPORTS.— (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than June 30, 2009, the 

President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional 

committees a report on the initial assessment required under 

subsection (a). 

(2) QUADRENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than four years after 

the date on which the President transmits the initial report 

under paragraph (1), and every four years thereafter, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees 

a report on the most recent assessment required under subsection (a). 

(d) CERTIFICATION.—Section 36 of the Arms Export Control 

Act (22 U.S.C. 2776) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(h) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT RELATING TO ISRAEL’S QUALI- TATIVE MILITARY EDGE.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any certification relating to a proposed 

sale or export of defense articles or defense services under 

this section to any country in the Middle East other than 

Israel shall include a determination that the sale or export 

of the defense articles or defense services will not adversely 

affect Israel’s qualitative military edge over military threats 

to Israel. 

‘‘(2) QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘qualitative military edge’ means the ability 

to counter and defeat any credible conventional military threat 

from any individual state or possible coalition of states or 

from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damages and 

casualties, through the use of superior military means, possessed in sufficient quantity, including weapons, command, control, communication, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities that in their technical characteristics are 

superior in capability to those of such other individual or possible coalition of states or non-state actors.’’. 

(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—The term 

‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 

Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

(2) QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE.—The term ‘‘qualitative 

military edge’’ has the meaning given the term in section 36(h) 

President. 

22 USC 2776 

note. 


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122 STAT. 4844 PUBLIC LAW 110–429—OCT. 15, 2008 

of the Arms Export Control Act, as added by subsection (d) 

of this section. 

SEC. 202. IMPLEMENTATION OF MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING 

WITH ISRAEL. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount made available for fiscal year 

2009 for assistance under the program authorized by section 23 

of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763) (commonly referred 

to as the ‘‘Foreign Military Financing Program’’), the amount specified in subsection (b) is authorized to be made available on a 

grant basis for Israel. 

(b) COMPUTATION OF AMOUNT.—The amount referred to in subsection (a) is the amount equal to— 

(1) the amount specified under the heading ‘‘Foreign Military Financing Program’’ for Israel for fiscal year 2008; plus (2) $150,000,000. 

(c) OTHER AUTHORITIES.— 

(1) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR ADVANCED WEAPONS SYSTEMS.—To the extent the Government of Israel requests the 

United States to provide assistance for fiscal year 2009 for 

the procurement of advanced weapons systems, amounts 

authorized to be made available for Israel under this section 

shall, as agreed to by Israel and the United States, be available 

for such purposes, of which not less than $670,650,000 shall 

be available for the procurement in Israel of defense articles 

and defense services, including research and development. 

(2) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—Amounts authorized to be 

made available for Israel under this section shall be disbursed 

not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of 

an Act making appropriations for the Department of State, 

foreign operations, and related programs for fiscal year 2009, 

or October 31, 2008, whichever occurs later. 

SEC. 203. SECURITY COOPERATION WITH THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA. 

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following findings: 

(1) Close and continuing defense cooperation between the 

United States and the Republic of Korea continues to be in 

the national security interest of the United States. 

(2) The Republic of Korea was designated a major nonNATO ally in 1987, the first such designation. 

(3) The Republic of Korea has been a major purchaser 

of United States defense articles and services through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, totaling $6,900,000,000 

in deliveries over the last 10 years. 

(4) Purchases of United States defense articles, services, 

and major defense equipment facilitate and increase the interoperability of Republic of Korea military forces with the United 

States Armed Forces. 

(5) Congress has previously enacted important, special 

defense cooperation arrangements for the Republic of Korea, 

as in the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize the transfer of 

items in the War Reserves Stockpile for Allies, Korea’’, approved 

December 30, 2005 (Public Law 109–159; 119 Stat. 2955), which 

authorized the President, notwithstanding section 514 of the 

Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321h), to transfer 

to the Republic of Korea certain defense items to be included 

in a war reserve stockpile for that country. 

22 USC 2753 

note. 

Deadline. 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–429—OCT. 15, 2008 122 STAT. 4845 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 7177: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 154 (2008): 

Sept. 27, considered and passed House. 

Oct. 1, considered and passed Senate. 

Æ 

(6) Enhanced support for defense cooperation with the 

Republic of Korea is important to the national security of 

the United States, including through creation of a status in 

law for the Republic of Korea similar to the countries in the 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Japan, Australia, and New 

Zealand, with respect to consideration by Congress of foreign 

military sales to the Republic of Korea. 

(b) SPECIAL FOREIGN MILITARY SALES STATUS FOR REPUBLIC

OF KOREA.—The Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) 

is amended— 

(1) in sections 3(d)(2)(B), 3(d)(3)(A)(i), 3(d)(5), 21(e)(2)(A), 

36(b), 36(c), 36(d)(2)(A), 62(c)(1), and 63(a)(2), by inserting ‘‘the 

Republic of Korea,’’ before ‘‘or New Zealand’’ each place it 

appears; 

(2) in section 3(b)(2), by inserting ‘‘the Government of the 

Republic of Korea,’’ before ‘‘or the Government of New Zealand’’; 

(3) in section 21(h)(1)(A), by inserting ‘‘the Republic of 

Korea,’’ before ‘‘or Israel’’; and 

(4) in section 21(h)(2), by striking ‘‘or to any member 

government of that Organization if that Organization or 

member government’’ and inserting ‘‘, to any member government of that Organization, or to the Governments of the 

Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Israel 

if that Organization, member government, or the Governments 

of the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or 

Israel’’. 

Approved October 15, 2008. 

22 USC 2753, 

2761, 2776, 

2796a, 2796b. 


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