As the United States grapples with the demands of prolonged conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, a new report warns that its defense industrial base (DIB) is ill-equipped to sustain simultaneous high-end combat operations across multiple theaters.
The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA)’s Gemunder Center for Defense & Strategy has released a sobering assessment authored by Gen. Joseph Dunford, Jr., USMC (ret.), former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Ambassador Eric Edelman, and Jonathan Ruhe, calling for urgent industrial collaboration with Middle East allies.
The report, titled Partners in Production, outlines a roadmap to bolster America's warfighting capacity by tapping into the growing defense ambitions of regional partners such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. These nations, once viewed primarily as arms recipients, are now investing heavily in indigenous capabilities and seeking deeper strategic ties.
From Transactional to Transformational
The report warns that the US and its allies face a critical shortfall in munitions, missile defense systems, and strategic materials. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have exposed the fragility of Western arsenals, and the shortfalls in critical munitions, missile defense capacity, space assets, and other core combat requirements have been well documented.
The report also noted that recent war games and studies projected that US munitions stocks “would only last mere weeks in a great power conflict, and will take years to replenish.”
While it would take significant time for the US to develop new sources of capital for advanced platforms and munitions, the report said that Middle Eastern countries can immediately establish production sites that would be able to close the gaps and meet global demand.
The report urges a “crawl, walk, run” approach, starting with joint production of critical raw materials and components for munitions like 155mm artillery shells, and eventually progressing to co-development of advanced systems. This phased strategy aims to ease pressure on the overstretched US industrial base while enhancing regional self-reliance.
“[T]here is a unique opportunity now to enhance the capacity of our partners in the Middle East, and thus our collective capacity as well,” the report states, adding that “working closely with partners including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain will bolster regional security and stability, and contribute to solving the aggregate global DIB challenge. Effective allies and partners relieve the burdens on U.S. forces and enhance our collective deterrence and warfighting capabilities.”
Regional Partners, Industrial Potential
The report highlights Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE as key players capable of transforming the region into a defense production hub. Israel’s high-tech sector already co-produces systems like Iron Dome and Arrow missile defense systems with US firms. The Israeli government also recently signed deals with defense firms to produce more of its own air-to-ground munitions, as well as raw materials for defense solutions.
Saudi Arabia, under its Vision 2030 initiative, plans to allocate half of its $80 billion defense budget to domestic production. Riyadh also signed an agreement last year to become the first international customer to produce components of the US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system. The UAE, meanwhile, is investing heavily in AI chip manufacturing and counter-drone technologies.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also begun ramping up efforts to help diversify global supply chains for critical minerals and other strategic materials.
These efforts, the report suggests, could be harnessed to produce everything from 155mm artillery shells to air defense interceptors-items in short supply across NATO and CENTCOM theaters.
The report also noted that regional changes such as the Abraham Accords and Israel’s move into US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) area of responsibility have “boosted regional collaboration to previously-unimaginable levels even in the face and fallout of catastrophes like October 7.”
Strategic Supply Chains and Policy Reform
The report also suggests that industrial cooperation could serve as a strategic alternative to large-scale US troop deployments, offering a more sustainable model for projecting power and influence in the region.
Among the key recommendations in the report:
- Reforming arms export regulations and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) processes to accelerate tech sharing.
- Diversifying supply chains to reduce reliance on China for rare-earth minerals.
- Building toward integrated regional defense architectures, including air and missile defense and maritime security.
“By pairing Israel’s high-technology defense sector and its growing DIB capacity with our Gulf partners’ massive capital and demonstrated ambitions to diversify global supply chains that support national security needs, the United States could expedite production of directed energy systems to counter, at sustainable cost, shared asymmetric threats from attritable drones, rockets, and missiles like those used in abundance by Iran’s proxy axis and by Russian forces attacking Ukraine,” the report read.