Since its founding in 1981, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which brings together the countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has proposed a wide range of agreements and useful projects to improve military cooperation and collective self-defense capability. Recently, during its 34th Summit held in Kuwait City on 10-11 December 2013, the GCC took the unprecedented step of setting up a unified military command structure for its member states. This military command will have a force of around 100,000 half of which would be contributed by Saudi Arabia, the main driver of this initiative. It should include one static air command, one static maritime command and one static land command headquarters. This command structure could enable GCC to react in real time to multiple interlinked threats to its internal and external security. The creation of integrated military command structures is an important reform and could be considered as a great evolution of the GCC towards deeper regional integration, especially on the military side. It can enhance the benefit from the various weapons systems in the Gulf, and also take advantage of the broad similarity of the military system and experience of the GCC's countries.

However, the GCC unified command cannot be effective without a sub-command entirely dedicated to the missile defense. The greatest strategic threat to the Gulf States is an attack by one or more ballistic missiles armed with weapons of mass destruction. The Arabian Gulf remains extremely vulnerable to this form of attack and is in need of an operational missile defense, which is capable of intercepting a missile during any phase of its flight. The goals of this sub-command should be integrated defense of territorial integrity from regional missile threats; providing protection of political and economic sites (including oil and gas fields and pipelines), and the strengthening of interoperability between GCC armed forces, especially procurement of interoperable missile technology.

Following the 1991 Gulf War, which was the most recent manifestation of an unstable balance of power in the region, missile defense has become one of the most prominent concerns in the strategic thinking and defense planning of the GCC countries. The study of this experience reveals a perception fully embedded in the regional balance due to the ballistic missile proliferation in the Middle East.