The close strategic relationship between the United States and Israel began with the allies sharing key intelligence and "lessons-learned" after the 1967 Six-Day War. This partnership was later broadened and formalized in the early 1980s when U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon signed the first formal agreement on strategic cooperation and President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced the establishment of a "Joint Political Military Group" to establish mechanisms for planning, exercises, and prepositioning against threats faced by both nations in the Middle East. Later in the decade, Israel was formally designated by an act of Congress as a major non-NATO ally of the United States.


Research-and-development collaboration between the United States and Israel has produced ground-breaking technologies and security techniques that are incorporated by the armed forces of both countries. Examples include: