*The US makes an annual investment of $3.8bn in – not foreign aid to – Israel, which yields an outsized Return-on-Investment.
*US Export and employment Multiplier. In 2018, Israel was the first to use the F-35 operationally, while US experts doomed the F-35 to failure. However, the Israeli battle-tested laboratory, jointly with Lockheed-Martin, overcame critical glitches, upgrading performance and contributing (in 2025) to $40bn in exports, $72bn of annual economic output and a $173bn backlog, along with 290,000 employees involved in the F-35 program (including subcontractors). This economic output generates billions of dollars of corporate and personal income tax to the US Treasury.
*R & D Bonanza. Israel shares daily operational lessons from US military systems with the manufacturers, saving 10-20 years of mega billions of dollars in R & D (R & D cost of F-35 totals $55bn), while upgrading systems, enhancing competitiveness and expanding export and employment.
*Showroom of US military systems. Israel’s wars and counter-terrorism demonstrate US defense industries’ effectiveness. Israel’s June 2025 air offensive against Iran – featuring 200 US-made F-35, F-16 and F-15 – highlighted the superiority of US combat aircraft, increasing exports. It exposed the vulnerabilities of Russian and Chinese air defenses, thus tilting the global balance of power in favor of the US.