H.R. 10796: United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Act

This bill would require the Secretary of Defense to set up a specific Pentagon “executive agent” to coordinate and speed up defense technology cooperation between the United States and Israel.

What the new office would do

The designated agent would be responsible for organizing and aligning efforts across the Department of Defense so that U.S. and Israeli defense-related research and development work more smoothly together. The bill says this coordination should help identify technologies developed jointly or by Israel that could be used in U.S. military systems.

The agent would also be tasked with:

• supporting collaborative research involving government, private-sector, and academic partners in both countries;
• helping move technologies from the research stage into procurement and fielding;
• creating ways for joint ventures, licensing agreements, and U.S.-based co-production or manufacturing partnerships;
• coordinating with other Defense Department offices and agencies to reduce duplication; and
• promoting joint training and information-sharing related to new technologies.

Areas of cooperation

The bill lists several defense areas where the U.S. and Israel could work together, including:

• counter-drone systems for air, sea, and ground threats;
• anti-tunneling and underground threat detection;
• missile defense and air defense;
• artificial intelligence, quantum technology, machine learning, and autonomous systems;
• directed energy and advanced sensing;
• cyber defense, electronic warfare, and digital resilience;
• biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and medical defense;
• networks, data fusion, and logistics in contested environments;
• defense manufacturing and co-production; and
• other emerging technologies that both countries agree to include.

Interagency coordination and oversight

The Department of Defense would have to coordinate with the State Department, Commerce Department, and other relevant agencies to make sure the program follows existing laws and regulations.

Within 180 days after enactment, the Defense Secretary would have to brief Congress on the designated agent, the status of coordination with Israeli counterparts, the first technology areas chosen for faster cooperation, and any early prototyping or integration work.

After that, the Defense Secretary would have to submit an annual report to the congressional defense committees. The report would cover activities carried out, progress made, collaboration with other federal programs, technologies moved into U.S. acquisition or fielded systems, partnerships formed with U.S. and Israeli industry, and recommendations for future cooperation.

These reports would generally be unclassified, though they could include a classified annex. The Pentagon would also have to publish periodic unclassified updates on a public website, as long as doing so would not reveal sensitive, classified, export-controlled, or operational-security information.

Relevant Companies

• LMT — Lockheed Martin could be affected if joint U.S.-Israel defense technology efforts lead to new programs involving missile defense, aerospace systems, or advanced military technologies.
• NOC — Northrop Grumman could be affected through participation in missile defense, autonomous systems, sensors, cyber, or other defense integration work.
• RTX — RTX could be affected through missile defense, air defense, sensors, electronic warfare, and related defense technology partnerships.
• BA — Boeing could be affected if cooperation expands into defense manufacturing, aircraft-related systems, or co-production arrangements.
• LDOS — Leidos could be affected by cybersecurity, defense IT, and systems-integration work tied to the cooperation initiative.
• SAIC — SAIC could be affected through government contracting related to defense technology integration, testing, and support services.
• PLTR — Palantir could be affected if the initiative increases demand for data fusion, AI-enabled defense analytics, and command-and-control software.
• KTOS — Kratos could be affected by work involving unmanned systems, counter-drone technology, and other advanced defense platforms.