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How Arab-Israeli Air Defense Coordination Is Developing into a Regional Security Shield

Jerusalem Post - Tuesday, September 22, 2026 by Yaakov Lappin and |

Operation Epic Fury helped increase coordination between US partners and allies in the region in terms of air defenses and other types of security coordination. A recent report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to the United States Congress, which covered aspects of Operation Epic Fury from April to June, provided new details on the types of cooperation. Although the report was general, it shed light on an important trend in the Middle East.

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In January 2022, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) published a report titled “A Stronger and Wider Peace: A US Strategy for Advancing the Abraham Accords.”

This report “heralded the accords as an historic breakthrough and urged the US government to seize the opportunity to start building a new Middle East defense architecture premised on bringing America’s regional partners together in common cause to counter the growing menace from Iran.”

The goal was also for Congress to help support this cooperation, as well as a “region-wide air defense network to help deter and defeat the escalating missile and drone threat posed by Iran and its terrorist proxies.” The result was the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses Act (DEFEND Act) of 2022.

JINSA noted in a May 2023 report called “Build it, and they will come: A US strategy for integrating Middle East air and missile defenses,” that there were opportunities to move toward a “region-wide integrated air and missile defense.” JINSA stated that “animosities among US partners have historically acted as a severe constraint on their willingness to engage in the levels of intelligence sharing and cooperation that meaningful air defense integration would require.”

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Read the full piece in the Jerusalem Post.