Defence
Since its formation in 1971, the UAE has had to cope with extraordinarily complex security concerns, given its geographic location, its demography and natural resources. From the very beginning of its existence, the UAE had to deal with Iran a much stronger and aggressive neighbor that seized from the Emirate of Sharjah in 1971 the strategically located Gulf islands Abu Musa, Tunb and Lesser Tunb
With a MoU signed in 1971 between Iran and the Emirate of Sharjah, Tehran effectively obtained the three islands, although Abu Dhabi never accepted this as a legitimate agreement. Since then, the Iranians have built airports, military bases and ports at these islands which are located 58-75km from the coast of the UAE. The aggressive foreign policy of Iran, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, forced the UAE to seek for a new security mechanism that will protect the country from Tehran’s policy to export the revolution to its neighbors and topple the governments of the Gulf region.
The new security mechanism was the Gulf Cooperation Council which was established on 25 May 1981 and included all Arab states of the Persian Gulf except Iraq and more specifically: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Besides joining the GCC the UAE decided to develop strong military and security ties with the U.S.A and procure gradually huge quantities of American made military equipment. During the 1990’s the Armed Forces of the UAE participated in four international military operations a) the US-led Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait from Iraq (January-February 1991) with a modest number of ground and air forces, b) the U.S-led international military coalition in Somalia in 1992, c) the Peace Operation in Bosnia Herzegovina providing numerous airlifts of wounded Bosnian Muslims to Abu Dhabi and Dubai and d) the military intervention in Kosovo in 1999.
From 2003 till 2014, the UAE participated in the war in Afghanistan next to the U.S and their allies against the Taliban with 6 F-16 Block60 and 1,200 military personnel including Special Forces. In 2011 the UAE participated in the GCC March 2011 Peninsula Shield military intervention operation in Bahrain with 500 police officers. The same year, the UAE participated with 6 F-16 Block60 and 6 Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets in NATO’s efforts to enforce a no-fly zone above Libya and attack Qaddafi’s forces assets in Libya in order to overthrow him. The military involvement of the UAE in Libya continued in 2014, when the Air Force conducted with Egypt joint airstrikes against Islamist militias.
On 22 September 2014 the UAE Air Force conducted with the United States and other partner nations airstrikes in Syria against targets of the ISIL using fighters, bombers. These airstrikes continued till the end of 2014 and resumed in February 2015 but were dramatically reduced to minimal the following two years 2016 and 2017. In August 2015, the UAE dispatched a brigade of approximately 3,000 ground forces, along with armored vehicles commencing the direct military intervention of the country in the Yemeni civil war fighting against the local allies of Iran Shi’a Houthi. In February 2016 the UAE agreed to refocus its forces in Yemen on the battle against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) which had significantly expanded its size and capability, particularly in the south of Yemen, because of the ongoing civil conflict.
By April 2016, the UAE had assembled 2,000 Yemeni fighters to fight AQAP a military force that later grew to 12,000 men. The determination of the UAE to proceed with an independent and proactive national security strategy derives from three key events, a) the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, b) the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and the Pentagon and finally and c) the eruption of the Arab Spring in 2011 and the destabilization of much of the Middle East. The Arab Spring and the fall of President Mubarak, who was not helped by the U.S, shaken the confidence of the UAE in Washington’s reliability and determination.
Furthermore the fragmentation of Iraq, the civil war in Syria, the direct military involvement of Iran in this war, the rise of Tehran as a regional power and finally the rise of radical Islam (Sunni extremists such as Muslim Brotherhood, ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Shia extremists such as Hizballah and various Iraqi militia groups) affected the strategic thinking in the UAE. The geopolitical developments mentioned above shaped the frame of UAE’s national security strategy. According to this, the main threats the country believes it must deal with are : a) external invasion by large neighbors, b) radical Islamist terrorism, and c) domestic political upheaval.
In order to effectively deal with the threats mentioned above the UAE started an extensive on-going armament program few years after the end of the First Gulf War, decided to intervene militarily in several regional conflicts (mentioned earlier) and enhanced its key military partnership with the U.S, its five GCC member states and particularly with Saudi Arabia. Finally, UAE promoted the establishment of regional military bases in western Africa such as, the air naval and training Assab base on the coast of Eritrea and the air and naval base at Berbera on the coast of Somaliland, while in February 2016 Dubai Ports World signed a deal to operate the Bossaso port on the coast of Somaliland.
Starting few years after the end of the Gulf War the UAE leadership implemented an ambitious modernization program for the Armed Forces of the country. This program included the procurement of:
• 652 BMP-3 AIFV from Russia in 1992,
• 133 ACV-300 AIFV from Turkey,
• 388 Leclerc MBT and 46 armored recovery vehicles of the same type from France,
• 78 self-propelled howitzers G6 Rhino from South Africa,
• 794 Oshkosh M-ATV MRAP vehicles from U.S,
• 3,375 International MaxxPro MRAP vehicles FROM U.S,
• 388 Caiman MRAP vehicles FROM U.S,
• 76 RG-31 Nyala Infantry Mobility Vehicle from South Africa,
• 40 Patria AMV 8×8 multi-role military vehicle and
• 3,000 of the locally designed and made Nimr Multipurpose wheeled vehicle
Furthermore, in November 1998, the UAE signed a $3.2 billion contract that included the order for 30 Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, as well as the deal to upgrade 33 Mirage 2000RAD/DAD aircraft up the new standard. Two years later the UAE signed a second contract for 80 F-16E/F Block60 aircraft and associated equipment for an estimated $6.4 billion.
Besides the procurement of the 110 new fighter jets, the UAE over the last 10 years has bought:
• Two Saab 340 Argus AEW&C equipped with the PS-890 Erieye radar system,
• Three GlobalEye AEW&C equipped with the Erieye radar system,
• Three Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT),
• One Bombardier Global Express reconnaissance / ISR aircraft,
• Eight DHC-8 MPA-D8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft,
• Six CASA/IPTN CN-235 transport aircraft,
• Five C-295 transport aircraft,
• Six Boeing C-17 transport aircraft,
• 30 AH-64D/E Apache attack helicopters,
• 60 UH-60L/M transport helicopters,
• 16 CH-47F Chinook heavy transport helicopters
• Undisclosed number of MQ-1 Predator UAS
• Undisclosed number of CAIG Wing Loong UCAS
A similar modernization program is also implemented for the Navy. In total 9 new corvettes and two patrol boats were built or are under order the last 15 years. There are:
• Two Gowind 2500 class corvettes (under order)
• One Abu-Dhabi class corvette (delivered)
• Six Baynunah class corvettes (delivered)
• Two Arialah class patrol boats (delivered)
Although the state defence budget is not publicly announced officially, analysts estimate that in 2014 the UAE had spent 22.76 Billion U.S Dollars or 5.64% of the GDP for its defence, while the following years till 2017 the defence budget stood at an average of 23.4 Billion U.S Dollars per year.
The UAE defence budget covers not only the operational and procurement expenses of the Armed Forces of the country but also the expenses of the military operations in Yemen and the maintenance of the military bases of the UAE abroad. Finally, the Government of the country decided several years ago to invest significant amount of money to the development of the local defence industry.