Uh-huh. Ask the Navy about the Pentagon approving the sale of classified American "silent screw" technology used by our submarines that was sold by Toshiba to the Soviets.
Don't think that the Pentagon said "okey-dokey" to that little transaction since they were pretty upset by it all.
Sometimes, what happens after things leave our direct control, doesn't always mesh with the rules of the game.
& IIRC,Toshiba has not exactly been treated with open arms since then.I was not talking about rouge sales(either by a nation or a company/group of people) which take place all the the time & involves Russian,American,British & French arms & most often results in sanctions or termination of existing contracts.
Sales like that of Toshiba's are done in secret & rarely get the media coverage that this current transaction has got.
This was the German Government, not a private company and it was equipment, not technology. The Patriot is a high-maintenance relationship, Spain would have to turn their entire aerospace industry in a Patriot support group to keep the system alive by themselves.