Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many US companies have been approved by the US Government to join the AUKUS Authorised User Community.

The Ministry of Defence does not have access to information on how many US companies are members of the US Authorised User Community (AUC). US companies are deemed to be members of the US AUC if they have registered with the Directorate of Defence Trade Controls (DDTC), the body responsible for overseeing the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). DDTC does not provide this information to either the UK or Australia but, as a guide, any US company which has exported military end use items out of the US will be registered with DDTC. The numbers could therefore be in the thousands.