Is there a required format for a Foreign Military Sales Letter of Request?

There is no standard or prescribed format for an LOR. The key to a good LOR is that it provides sufficient information to adequately communicate the international partner’s requirements to the USG. A complete and “actionable” LOR is essential so the IA can prepare a response that most accurately reflects those requirements. A generic checklist depicts the categories of information that may need to be addressed in an LOR. While not all these categories are necessarily applicable to all LORs, the checklist provides good insight into the type of information the USG needs in order to be able to construct an FMS case LOA document. These categories of information are described in detail in the LOR Writing Guide found in the “Learning Guides” section of DSCU’s website. The U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy also have excellent tools available to assist in LOR preparation via generic and commodity-specific LOR checklists found on their websites. Starting with the MILDEP checklists and then adding in any missing information from the generic checklist should result in a complete and actionable LOR.