Abraham Accords Defense Cooperation Continues to Thrive
Last week, eight Israeli defense companies, including Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems and Rafael, took part in the Marrakech Air Show as part of an official delegation for the first time. Six years ago, the sight of Israel’s defense giants at a Moroccan air base would have been unthinkable. Today, it signals an enduring partnership that reflects a wider trend among the Abraham Accords signatories.
When assessing the strength of the Abraham Accords, too much emphasis is placed on expansion, which has largely stalled, aside from Kazakhstan’s accession in 2025. But the real merits of the Abraham Accords, and what separates them from Israel’s earlier peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, has been the practical development and deepening of relations, crucial to long term peace, prosperity and stability. Nowhere is this more apparent than in defense cooperation, which is increasingly moving beyond arms sales towards joint development, industrial partnerships and operational coordination.
The real test came this year. After the war with Iran began on 28 February, the UAE was targeted more than any other country in the region, including Israel. By the April ceasefire, it had faced an estimated 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones, according to the Emirati Ministry of Defense. Axios reported that Israel deployed an Iron Dome battery to the UAE, along with troops to operate it, at a time when Israel itself was under heavy fire. It was the first time Israel had sent the system to another country. Israel also reportedly sent a version of the Iron Beam laser air-defense system and the Spectro drone-detection system, while the Israeli Air Force struck short-range missile launchers in southern Iran before they could hit the Gulf.
This cooperation is why the Diplomatic Adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates, Dr Anwar Gargash, said in March that Iran’s attacks would strengthen Israel’s role in the Gulf, not diminish it. The war showed what six years of normalization had built. The United States played the leading role in the regional response, but Israel’s direct military assistance to the UAE would have been politically unthinkable before 2020. Its significance lies not only in the capabilities provided, but in the level of trust the two countries have developed.
The export figures offer another measure of how far the relationship has developed. A new analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Defence Dividend of the Abraham Accords, finds that between 2021 and 2025, Israeli defense exports to the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain totaled $8.8 billion. After falling to just 3% of Israeli exports in 2023, the year of the 7 October attack, the three countries’ combined share rebounded to 15% of a record $19.2 billion in Israeli defense exports in 2025.
But the value of these relationships cannot be measured in arms sales alone. The relationship is shifting from buyer and seller towards joint partnership. In May, Israel and the UAE reportedly established a joint fund to acquire and develop new weapons systems, focusing on counter-drone and air-defense capabilities, with Emirati defense group EDGE leading on the UAE side. Elbit Systems has also established a UAE subsidiary, Elbit Systems Emirates, and the company’s largest-ever contract, a reported $2.3 billion over eight years, is understood to be with the UAE.
Morocco is also moving beyond procurement. Alongside purchases such as the Barak MX air and missile defense system, Elbit’s Atmos artillery system and a reported $1 billion deal with Israel Aerospace Industries for Ofek 13 reconnaissance satellites, BlueBird Aero Systems has opened a production facility in Rabat. A Moroccan-Israeli joint military committee has also agreed an action plan for 2026. At the Marrakech Air Show, Morocco’s minister delegate for national defense described a shift from importing capabilities to building national defense capacity. Israeli partners are helping make that happen.
Bahrain, too, has developed security ties with Israel, although its defense-industrial relationship remains far more limited than the UAE’s. It became the first Gulf state to host an Israeli military officer in 2022, following a bilateral security agreement signed that year, and hosts the US Fifth Fleet, a hub of American naval operations in the region. While Bahrain has yet to develop the kind of defense-industrial partnerships seen in the UAE, its security relationship with Israel nonetheless forms part of the wider regional architecture taking shape.
The challenge now is to turn these separate partnerships into a more connected regional defense network, linking air defense, early warning and industrial cooperation. Six years on, the Abraham Accords’ defense partnership has become more than a consequence of normalization. It is helping give the agreements practical strategic value, with implications for the security of the region as a whole.
