UAE signs over $5bn in deals at arms fair
The UAE, a long-time customer of Western defense companies, placed orders for anti-tank missiles worth $710 million from Rosoboron Export of Russia and more than $740 million from Raytheon of the United States. Contracts worth $930 million were signed on the final day on Wednesday, according to the organizers, bringing the total for the four days to $5.2 billion.
The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is an important member of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after Houthi militants took the country’s capital Sanaa and marched on the second-largest city Aden.
It is seen as a crucial regional ally in the coalition led by the United States’ war against the Islamic State organisation in Iraq and Syria. In just three days, the UAE’s military expenditures at IDEX 2023 and Navdex 2023 have surpassed $5 billion. On the third day of the simultaneous events, Tawazun Council stated that nine contracts totaling AED5.7 billion ($1.55 billion) had been signed with domestic and foreign businesses on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.
On behalf of the Abu Dhabi Police, the acquisition unit also announced two deals totaling AED134 million ($36.5 million), bringing the total number of contracts signed on day three to 11, with a total value of AED5.8 billion ($1.6 billion).
As a result, the total value of the 34 deals that have been revealed so far is AED 18.44 billion ($5 billion). Majed Ahmed Al Jaberi and Zayed Saeed Al Meraikhi, the Tawazun Council’s official spokesman, made the announcement.
