In Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Armed Forces (KAF) are responsible for defending Kuwait's sovereignty and territory; Kuwait’s security concerns include regional threats from state and non-state actors, maritime security, and terrorism; the KAF participates in bilateral and multilateral exercises, as well as a limited number of multinational security operations such as maritime patrols in the Persian Gulf; it also provided a few fighter aircraft to the Saudi-led coalition intervention in Yemen in 2015; the KAF is part of the Peninsula Shield Forces, a joint military force established by the GCC countries with the aim of maintaining security and stability in the region

Kuwait's key security partner since the 1991 Gulf War has been the US; the US maintains thousands of military personnel as well as logistics and training facilities in Kuwait as part of mutual cooperation agreements signed in 1991 and 2013; the KAF conducts bilateral exercises with the US military and would look to US assistance in the event of an external attack; Kuwait has Major Non-NATO Ally status with the US, a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation (2025)