2010 was the second highest Foreign Military Sales (FMS) year in the history of the United States Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC), according to Defense Talk. In the article, commander of USASAC, Brig. Gen. Christopher Tucker, says he has seen “tremendous growth” in international interest in US equipment.

The article was written in November, but the information is pertinent, maybe even more so, given our current financial climate. A victim of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Act of 2005, USASAC was relocated from Fort Belvoir, Virginia to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. The command immediately formed strong business partnerships at their new location. Brig. Gen. Tucker said, “Implementing BRAC 2005 has allowed us to build a strong team here at Redstone”.

In describing USASAC’s FMS efforts, their commander talks of building “vital partnerships,” working with “partner nations,” and building “partner capability”. In addition to FMS cases for new equipment, USASAC established FMS cases to sell excess equipment at significantly reduced cost. In addition to payment, the US benefits by reducing its own excess inventory, storage needs, and end-of-life-cycle costs through these FMS cases. USASAC financial reports reflect money spent and money earned from FMS efforts.

We talked in previous posts about a changing government and the need to adapt to changing conditions. The current business climate requires us to do more with less, and more with each other. Strong business relationships are more critical than ever.

It is not surprising that, “Strength in Cooperation,” is a USASAC slogan. May we all look at change as an opportunity to form new business partnerships.