More data on Israel as a force and dollar multiplier for the US
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | May 1, 2026
*Against the backdrop of the current war against the Ayatollah regime, US-Israel joint drills have highlighted the immense cooperation and mutual respect between the US’ Navy Seals and its Israeli counterpart Shayetet 13 – both specializing in pre-emptive operation beyond enemy lines – enhancing battle tactics of both units.
*The existing threat of Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, highlights the mutually-beneficial collaboration between the US and Israeli Navies. This collaboration has leveraged Israel’s uniquely intense naval battle experience in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea (Northern Indian Ocean) and the Persian Gulf. This collaboration has highlighted the mutually-beneficial joint exercises and Israel’s capabilities in the areas of intelligence gathering, naval commando, joint exercises, mine detection and mine clearance operations.
*For example, during the January 1991 First Gulf War, the US and Israel collaborated in naval mine-clearing, which consisted of specialized Israeli mine plows and intelligence, which enhanced the effectiveness of coalition naval operations against Iraqi mine threats in the Persian Gulf. Israel supplied other critical technologies, including night-vision goggles and a low-altitude warning system for helicopters. Israeli military intelligence, highly focused on Iraq, also provided detailed tactical information to the U.S. about Iraqi military activities.
*The Israeli Navy has acquired substantial combat experience – shared with the US Navy – and is frequently involved in high-threat environments and asymmetric warfare, as well as in the areas of the Israeli developed and manufactured unmanned maritime vessels (UMV) – also known as unmanned surface vessels (USV) – and unmanned intelligence submarines.
*The U.S. and Israeli Navies conduct frequent joint exercises, such as the International Maritime Exercise (IMX) and Intrinsic Defender, leveraging each other’s experience in mine neutralization, search and rescue, medical emergencies at sea, maritime interdiction, rapid response, counter-terrorism and integration of women.
*Israel’s Underwater Missions Unit and the US Fifth Fleet collaborate in tactical training on topics like underwater search, mine removal, and underwater medical emergencies. Thus, they have boosted each side’s tactical capabilities in a joint attempt to pre-empt and counter terrorism, as well as curtail China’s maneouverability in the Middle East and adjacent regions.
*Israel’s Navy has demonstrated its potential, when assaulting energy infrastructure of the Ayatollah’s proxy, Houthi terrorists, some 1,300 miles from Israel’s shores. The Houthis have terrorized a major intersection of international commercial shipping lanes between the Far East and the Mediterranean, in addition to launching ballistic missiles and predator UAVs at Israel.
The Bottom Line
*The Israeli Navy’s multi-theatre and uniquely-intense combat experience has served as a cost-effective battle-tested laboratory, an innovation center and a research and development center for the US Navy, as have Israel’s Air Force, armored units, counter-terrorism units, urban warfare units and military medical units been for their US counterparts.
*The Israeli experience has yielded many upgrades for the US defense industries and its products, saving the US mega-billions of dollars in research and development cost. Thus, enhancing US competitiveness in the global market, increasing US exports, expanding US employment and generating more income tax revenues to the US Treasury.
*The US-Israel naval close cooperation has highlighted the reality of the mutually-beneficial two-way-street of cooperation between the US and Israel.
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