Born in 1925 in Lithuania, Moshe Arens immigrated to Israel from the US, where he grew up, in 1948. He is married and the father of four. He studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and aeronautical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. A former associate professor of aeronautical engineering at the Technion and vice president for engineering at Israel Aircraft Industries, he has published articles in academic journals on propulsion and flight mechanics.
| 1971 | Received Israel Defense Prize |
| 1974 | Elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud party |
| 1974-77 | Member of the Knesset Finance Committee |
| 1977-82 | Chairman of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security |
| 1982-83 | Ambassador to the United States |
| 1983-84 | Minister of Defense |
| 1984-88 | Minister without Portfolio |
| 1988-90 | Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| 1990-92 | Minister of Defense |
| 1992 | Retired from political life |
| 1999 | Appointed Minister of Defense (January) |