American MQ-1 Predator UAV could be exported to the Middle East and Latin America.

American Defense firm General Atomics expects the first sales of an unarmed export version of its Predator drone within months, seeing the Middle East and Latin America as particularly fertile markets. So far, almost all of the more than 500 drones sold by the firm have gone to the U.S. military, a handful of other U.S. civilian government agencies, plus Britain, Italy and Turkey.

American MQ-1 Predator UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Other sales have been blocked by U.S. authorities under the terms of the Missile Technology Control Regime, an informal international agreement between states designed to limit the spread of sophisticated long-range weapons technology. General Atomics Aeronautical director of international strategy development Christopher Ames said on Wednesday the sale of armed drones to anyone other than the closest U.S. allies remained extremely unlikely. But sales of the unarmed export Predator XP - specifically designed to be unable to carry lethal weaponry - were much more likely to be allowed and would soon start, he said. "There has been very considerable international interest," he told Reuters in an interview on the company's stand at the Farnborough Airshow. "There have been countries that for a long time have been asking for Predator... (the export variant) opens up those markets to us."

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