DoD Commemorates Kuwaiti Major Non-Nato Ally Status
April 01, 2004

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage hosted a ceremony at the Pentagon today to honor the State of Kuwait as a major non-NATO ally (MNNA) of the United States.

The Secretary of Defense first designated Kuwait an MNNA on Feb. 17, 2004. Other Major Non-NATO allies include Australia, Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand.

Major non-NATO ally status under Title 10 United States code, Section 2350A, was first developed in 1987 as a way to extend benefits of cooperative research and development (R&D;) projects to selected non-NATO states, particularly Far Eastern allies. The status allows bidding on certain DoD contracts under Title 10 Section 2349; cooperative R&D; contracts to improve conventional defense capabilities; joint R&D; on counter-terrorism technology; and free loans of DoD materials to conduct cooperative R&D; for testing or evaluation.