Major Non-NATO Ally

Major non-NATO ally status combines recognition of close relations with the United States with eligibility for specified forms of military and economic cooperation.[1] Its practical benefits include access to cooperative research and development arrangements, loans of defense-related equipment, certain procurement opportunities, and provisions concerning military stockpiles and training.[1] These privileges do not entail a U.S. commitment to defend the recipient country.[1]

The designation is therefore distinct from a binding mutual-defense pact: it enables closer security and technological cooperation without imposing the obligations associated with such a pact.[4] NATO Article 5, by comparison, requires members to take steps to assist one another, including through military action.[4]

A State Department fact sheet dated January 20, 2025 listed 19 formally designated MNNAs: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand, and Tunisia.[1] The U.S. Code’s executive-document notes, current through October 22, 2026, also record 2026 designations for Saudi Arabia and Peru.[5] Public Law 107–228 separately provides for Taiwan to be treated as an MNNA without formal designation as one.[5]

The designation framework grew out of Section 1105 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1987, signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 4, 1986.[2] Congress provided for greater defense cooperation with countries that the secretary of defense could designate as major non-NATO allies, potentially including U.S.-funded joint research, development, and production of U.S. defense equipment.[2]

Supporters of Israel had advocated for “equal treatment” in certain military benefits available to NATO allies, including the ability to bid on U.S. defense contracts, despite the absence of a U.S.-Israeli mutual-defense agreement.[2] The Congressional Research Service and INSS date Israel’s designation to February 1987, when the status was also extended to Egypt, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.[2][3] After a February 18 luncheon with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Reagan referred to Israel as a “major, non-NATO ally.”[6] Shamir welcomed the designation for the opportunities it offered Israel to bid on U.S. defense research-and-development contracts.[6]

Israel’s designation expanded the political and legal framework for U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation and gave Israel formal standing on certain technology-transfer issues.[7] A memorandum signed in late 1987 by Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and U.S. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci eased cooperation in defense research and development and Israeli military exports to the United States.[7]

The April 21, 1988 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Agreement explicitly identified Israel as a major non-NATO ally for purposes of Section 1105 of the 1987 National Defense Authorization Act and connected that status with cooperative research and development.[8] The memorandum also established a framework for continued consultation through bilateral groups concerned with political-military cooperation and security-assistance planning.[8]

In 1996, Section 147 of Public Law 104-164 amended the Foreign Assistance Act to require advance congressional notification of new designations.[2] The resulting provision, 22 U.S.C. §2321k, deemed Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand designated as major non-NATO allies as of July 21, 1996, without requiring advance notification for those initial designations.[5]

Under 22 U.S.C. §2321k, the president must notify Congress in writing “at least 30 days before” designating a country as a major non-NATO ally or terminating its designation.[5] This provision applies to designation for purposes of the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.[5]

One set of privileges concerns cooperative research, development, testing, and evaluation, for which designated countries may receive loans of materials, supplies, or equipment.[1] Under 22 U.S.C. §2796d, the secretary of defense may authorize such loans to NATO members or major non-NATO allies through written agreements.[9] Loaned items may be consumed without reimbursement when the secretary determines that consumption is necessary to the program’s success and approves it.[9] The same statute restricts loans of certain strategic and critical materials when stockpile levels fall below required quantities.[9]

An MNNA may also enter into a formal agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense for cooperative research and development on defense equipment and munitions.[1] Firms from designated countries may compete, like firms from NATO countries, for contracts to maintain, repair, or overhaul U.S. Defense Department equipment outside the United States.[1] Other possible support includes funding for explosives-detection devices and counterterrorism research-and-development projects under the State Department’s Technical Support Working Group.[1]

Stockpiling and training arrangements form another part of the designation’s practical scope.[1] MNNAs are eligible to host U.S.-owned War Reserve Stockpiles outside U.S. military facilities and to enter bilateral or multilateral cooperative training agreements, subject to reciprocal financial arrangements and reimbursement of U.S. direct costs.[1] The listed privileges also include possible priority delivery of Excess Defense Articles for countries on NATO’s southern or southeastern flank and eligibility for consideration to purchase depleted-uranium ammunition.[1]

The Excess Defense Articles program, managed by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, allows the United States to provide friendly countries with equipment exceeding U.S. requirements at reduced rates or without charge.[2] Israel’s MNNA status makes it eligible for such transfers under Section 516(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act and Section 23(a) of the Arms Export Control Act.[2] Israel received at least $296 million in Excess Defense Articles deliveries, in current value, from 2013 through 2023; a separately reported cumulative total for articles provided since 1992 was $6.6 billion.[2] For the earlier, overlapping period from 2010 through 2019, reported deliveries totaled at least $385 million.[10] In 2016, the Obama administration approved delivery of 10 F-15D fighters to Israel, with an estimated value of $181 million.[11]

Separate arms-sales provisions apply to a group comprising NATO members and Israel, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand, described as “NATO+5.”[2] For this group, the Arms Export Control Act provisions discussed in the reporting provide a 15-day rather than 30-day congressional review period and higher notification thresholds for government-to-government and commercially licensed arms sales.[2] The thresholds are $25 million for major defense equipment, $100 million for defense articles and services, and $300 million for design and construction services.[2]

For Israel’s defense industries, MNNA status opened opportunities to compete in tenders to supply weapons and equipment to the U.S. Army and to become subcontractors to American defense companies.[3] Israeli industries could compete on an equal basis with NATO countries and other close U.S. allies for contracts to produce a significant number of defense items.[11] The designation also strengthens military and economic ties between Israel and the United States.[12]

The 1988 U.S.-Israel memorandum placed cooperative research and development within a broader framework of strategic consultation.[8] Its Joint Political-Military Group provided a forum for cooperation involving combined planning, exercises, and logistics.[8] The Joint Security Assistance Planning Group reviewed Israeli security-assistance requests in light of threat assessments and U.S. budget capacity, while also discussing industrial and technological cooperation.[8]

The designation’s significance nevertheless rests on cooperation and access to specified benefits rather than a mutual-defense guarantee: it recognizes a close relationship without creating a U.S. security commitment to the designated country.[1]

Published accounts do not give a single date for Israel’s attainment of MNNA status. The Israeli embassy’s current timeline places the status in 1985,[12] while the Congressional Research Service and INSS place it in February 1987.[2][3] The April 1988 bilateral agreement states that Israel was already designated under Section 1105 of the 1987 National Defense Authorization Act.[8] A Jewish Virtual Library foreign-aid overview instead gives 1998.[10] The 1996 statute separately deemed Israel designated as of July 21, 1996, for purposes of that provision.[5] These sources may describe different legal stages or contain errors, but they do not fully reconcile the chronology.[5]