Israel is ramping up the issuance of air-defense export licenses, with the United Arab Emirates emerging as a key recipient as foreign media reports reflect the popularity of Israeli air defense systems in the Gulf and beyond. The numbers show a state and its weapons industry moving in lockstep: more licenses, fewer barriers, and a wider market for systems built to protect borders, regimes, and profit streams while ordinary people absorb the consequences.
Who Gets the Systems
According to Axios, Israel deployed the short-range Iron Dome in the UAE during the current war with Iran. According to The Financial Times, the Emiratis have bought Iron Beam from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, while The Financial Times also reported that Elbit Systems rushed the Spectro drone detection system to the UAE. The Emirates have joined Germany, which in recent months has expanded its massive deal to acquire the long-range Arrow system made by Israel Aerospace Industries.
Countries including Slovakia, Cyprus, Azerbaijan and Morocco have bought IAI's Barak air defense system. The market has expanded from Morocco to Azerbaijan as Israel issues more export licenses. The picture is not of isolated deals but of a widening network of state-to-state weapons circulation, with the buyers listed as governments and the sellers backed by the Defense Ministry.
Data from the Defense Ministry obtained by TheMarker, Haaretz's business newspaper, shows a surging number of countries that received approval last year for the export and marketing of air defense batteries, in response to a freedom of information request by attorney Eitay Mack. In 2025, the ministry's Defense Export Control Agency granted Israeli companies air defense export licenses for 20 countries, compared with seven in 2024 and 12 in 2023. For marketing permits, the numbers were 74 last year, 56 in 2024 and 19 in 2023.
A marketing permit lets a company present the system through agents in a country, or invite a client for a demonstration of the system. An export license means the company can advance negotiations toward the closing of a deal. The rising number of licenses stems from both the number of applications and Defense Ministry policy. The surge is also notable given that other areas of the arms industry, such as drones, training, ammunition, intelligence and cyber capabilities, have not seen similar increases in the issuing of licenses. Drones have seen a 6 percent rise in marketing permits granted, but no increase in export licenses.
The Rubber Stamp
A senior official in the defense sector said, "you can get an export license for five countries and close only one deal." The data indicates sales that Israeli companies will achieve in the coming years. In the air defense industry, this can already be seen for Israel's two main players, Rafael and IAI. The monetary value of their exports jumped 25 percent last year.
Considering the numbers for Elbit, Rafael and IAI, Israel's total defense exports are expected to reach $18 billion for 2025, $3 billion higher than in the previous year, a 20 percent rise. The stagnation in licenses granted for other defense sectors might reflect global boycott attempts amid the large number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel in its war on Hamas in Gaza. The acquisition of Israeli defense systems is perceived as less problematic.
The increase in the number of countries allowed for air defense exports reflects the PR boost during the two and a half years in which these systems have defended the Israeli home front. It also reflects the Defense Ministry's more lenient policy on such sales, part of a reform led by the ministry's director general, Amir Baram. A committee on this issue, which submitted its recommendations at the end of last year, is expected to bolster this trend.
The ministry's policy is reflected not only in the number of licenses granted but also in the small number of licenses suspended or canceled in 2025. A license could be canceled based on an applicant's criminal record, its violation of previously granted license conditions, efforts to protect Israeli defense know-how, and concerns about the importing country's use of the system. Only 99 export approvals were canceled last year, compared with 174 in 2024.
Further evidence of eased export conditions is reflected in data received Tuesday by the Movement for Freedom of Information. It shows that of 6,648 applications for defense export licenses for products and knowledge, only 19 applications were denied by the Defense Ministry. Hiddai Negev, executive director of the Movement for Freedom of Information, said, "The committee that approves defense exports of advanced technologies and weapons from Israel operates in the dark and doesn't publish a public report." He also said, "The dismal figure shows that the committee functions as a rubber stamp, approving over 99 percent of defense export applications. This figure shows that there is no real oversight or control over the defense technologies that Israel exports to problematic regions around the world."
Who Pays for the Deals
Currently, about 70 percent of Israel's defense production is exported. The Defense Ministry's policy, designed to remove barriers to these exports, also raises questions about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contentions that Israel needs to be a "Super Sparta" and provide for all its defense needs itself. In his latest comment on the matter, Netanyahu spoke about an additional 350 billion shekels, or $120 billion, in Israeli arms production in the coming decade.
Human rights lawyer Eitay Mack said, "Netanyahu declares that Israel has to invest hundreds of billions of shekels so it can cater to its defense needs." Mack also said, "In practice, the trend in the data is that for economic and political reasons, the bulk of Israeli defense production is directed toward exports." He added, "In this context, the example of air defense screams out. Sales abroad stem from the economic needs of the companies making the systems and from the fact that Israel's diplomatic relations depend on it."
Mack also said, "We could find ourselves in a situation similar to that of the Americans, where we have full arms independence but face shortages due to massive arms exports." The figures in the ministry's own records, along with the near-total approval rate and the expanding list of buyers, show a system built to move weapons outward while the public gets the slogans, the secrecy, and the bill.