The Media Line — The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday announced a new arms deal with Sweden’s Saab Group defense company, coming soon after the Gulf nation’s mammoth F-35 fighter jet deal with the United States.
The $1 billion contract between Abu Dhabi and Saab Group (it split from the eponymous automobile firm in the 1990s) essentially extends a five-year pact signed in 2015 and includes two additional GlobalEye airborne surveillance systems, bringing the total number owned by the UAE to five.
“We are proud that the UAE continues to show great trust in Saab,” the company’s CEO Micael Johansson said. “It shows that Saab remains on the cutting edge regarding advanced technology.”
According to the manufacturer’s website, GlobalEye is a “multi-domain Airborne Early Warning & Control solution” and employs a mix of active and passive sensors that can detect and track long-range objects in the air, at sea and over land.
Tuesday’s deal follows the landmark sale of F-35 jets to the UAE by the US. Last month, the US Senate failed to pass resolutions blocking the $23 billion agreement, signed after the Gulf state agreed to normalize relations with Israel in early August.
Several days later, the White House announced yet another arms deal, this time with Morocco, which had decided to upgrade its diplomatic relations with the Jewish state the previous day. The $1 billion contract includes advanced US drones and precision-guided munitions.
The flurry of weapon buys by Arab countries was capped last week with the State Department’s authorization of a relatively modest $290 million sale of 3,000 precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, which will be added to the $500 million purchase of state-of-the-art air-to-ground armaments by Riyadh, announced two weeks earlier.
The shopping spree has picked up as the four-year term of US President Donald Trump draws to a close, and may shape the Middle East in irreversible ways.
“The US is the largest weapons exporter in the world, using every chance it gets to control other markets. Selling strategic arms like drones, air defense and other systems, beyond the financial benefits, allows it to exert political leverage on its clients,” Ami Rojkes Dombe, a defense and technology analyst and editor at Israel Defense magazine, told The Media Line.
“In a larger geopolitical context, these moves … are a response to Russian and Chinese expansion in the Middle East and Africa. These deals are a form of planting a flag in the Sahara and Persian Gulf by Washington,” he said.
“It will be interesting to see whether Moscow or Beijing answer with their own large attack drones.”
Dombe sees clear differences in the contracts recently signed.
“The Moroccan deal includes mostly drones and precision arms. These kinds of weapons allow the Moroccan army to combat the asymmetrical warfare currently waged by the Polisario Front,” the rebel movement looking to end the Moroccan presence in Western Sahara,” he said.
“This undoubtedly gives Rabat a leg up in this battle compared with neighboring Algeria, which relies on Russian munitions [and which is the main supporter of the Polisario Front],” he added. “It will be interesting to see whether Moscow or Beijing answer with their own large attack drones.”
As for the latest sale of precision bombs to Riyadh, Dombe explains that the ongoing war in Yemen, where the Saudi-led collation of Arab states is combatting the Iran-backed Houthi movement, has demanded mostly aerial attacks, as Saudi forces have suffered significant defeats on the ground.
“The UAE is involved in conflicts with terror organizations in Libya, Yemen and other places, and also relies heavily on air raids and supplying local proxy forces. So broadening its aircraft fleet will allow it to gather more information, direct fighter jet strikes and gain an aerial foothold at specific interest points.”
“The transaction between the UAE and Saab is similar,” he noted. “The UAE is involved in conflicts with terror organizations in Libya, Yemen and other places, and also relies heavily on air raids and supplying local proxy forces. So broadening its aircraft fleet will allow it to gather more information, direct fighter jet strikes and gain an aerial foothold at specific interest points.”
“The sale of the F-35, in particular, has the potential to lead to a significant escalation of an arms race in the region, not even just with Iran trying to match capabilities, but with other US partners wanting the same advanced equipment.”
Seth Binder, advocacy officer at the Project on Middle East Democracy, told The Media Line the UAE deals would have the greatest impact on the region.
