Most famously, a few months after Ronald Reagan came into office in 1981 he announced the sale of five AWACS systems to Saudi Arabia in what was at the time the largest arms sales in U.S. history. The Associated Press reported at the time that “Israel defense experts say the AWACS planes could monitor every move of the Israeli air force, depriving it of its ability to launch a surprise first strike, the basis of Israeli defense doctrine.” The Israeli government and its supporting lobbies in the U.S. unsuccessfully pressured the Reagan Administration to cancel the sale.