| Military of the United Arab Emirates |
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|---|---|
BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles of the UAE military offloading |
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| Founded | 1951 |
| Current form | 1971 |
| Service branches | United Arab Emirates Army United Arab Emirates Navy United Arab Emirates Air Force |
| Manpower | |
| Military age | 18 years |
| Available for military service |
752,707, age 15-49 (2004) |
| Fit for military service |
412,490, age 15-49 (2004) |
| Reaching military age annually |
24,506 (2004) |
| Active personnel | 65,000 (ranked 73rd) |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | US$15.7 billion in 2010 (ranked 18th) |
| Percent of GDP | 7.3% |
| Industry | |
| Foreign suppliers | United States France United Kingdom Russia |
The Union Defence Force is the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates and has primary responsibility for the defense of all seven emirates. It consists of 65,000 personnel, and is headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
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The Trucial Oman Scouts, long the symbol of public order on the coast and commanded by British officers, were turned over to the United Arab Emirates as the nucleus of its defence forces in 1971.
Although small in number, the UAE armed forces are equipped with some of the most modern weapon systems, purchased from a variety of outside countries. Most officers are graduates of the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, with others having attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Royal Military College, Duntroon and St. Cyr, the military academy of France. France opened the Abu Dhabi Base in May 2009. In March 2011, the UAE agreed to join the enforcement of the no-fly-zone over Libya by sending six F-16 and six Mirage 2000 multi-role fighter aircraft.[1]
There are two distinct military organizations in the UAE, the UAE federal military force is called the Union Defence Force, and then several of the Emirates maintain their own forces.
The United Arab Emirates Air Force has about 4000 personnel.[2] The air force agreed in 1999 to purchase 80 advanced U.S. F-16 multirole fighter aircraft. Other equipment includes the Mirage 2000s, British Hawk aircraft, and French helicopters. The air defense has a Hawk missile program for which the United States is providing training. The UAE has taken delivery of two of five Triad I-Hawk batteries.
The United Arab Emirates Navy is growing, with more than 2,000 personnel and 72 vessels.
Three Emirates maintain their own forces, called Regional Commands by the UDF:
Sharjah's small force was merged into the UDF in 1986.
The UAE sent forces to assist Kuwait during the 1990-1991 Gulf War where several hundred UAE troops participated in the conflict as part of the GCC Peninsula Shield force that advanced into Kuwait City. US aircraft bombed Iraqi positions from the UAE, and US ships operated out of UAE ports. The UAE air force also carried out strikes against Iraqi forces. A total of six UAE combat deaths were reported as a result of the fighting.
It dispatched an infantry battalion to the United Nations force in Somalia in 1993, it sent the 35th Mechanized Infantry Battalion to Kosovo, and sent a regiment to Kuwait during the Iraq War. In addition, it helps protect the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. It is a leading partner in the campaign against terrorism, providing assistance in the military, diplomatic, and financial arenas. The UAE military provides humanitarian assistance to Iraq.
UAE Military field engineers arrived in Lebanon at September 8, 2007 in Beirut for clearing areas of south Lebanon from mines and cluster bombs. UAE peacekeepers deployment in Afghanistan started in 2007.
The UAE went on an expansion drive in 1995, which began with the 1992-93 acquisition of 436 Leclerc Tanks and 415 BMP-3 Armored Vehicles. It had learned from the Iranian experiences with having a single supplier for its military and has diversified its arms purchases, purchasing weaponry mainly from Russia, the United States, the UK, Ukraine, France and Germany. It has also taken care to invest in the systems it has purchased and standardize them according to NATO/GCC Specifications.
The equipment expansion was also followed by a Quantitative Manpower Expansion and Emiratisation program for the Armed forces. Presently (2005) almost all pilots in the UAE Airforce are UAE Nationals, with the restriction of non-nationals to certain positions in the instruction and maintenance divisions of the airforce. More nationals are being trained to fill these ranks, with programs such as the Technical Trainee Project underway to try to fill the technical jobs in the country.
There has also been a qualitative shift in the Personnel in the armed services, with expert instruction being brought in from around the world, refinement of local military training institutions and the increase in standards across the armed forces.
The UAE has begun to produce a greater amount of military equipment in a bid to reduce foreign dependence and help with national Industrialization. The Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding company - ADSB ([1]) produce a range of ships and are a prime contractor in the Baynunah Program, a program to design develop and produce 5-6 corvettes customized for operation in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. It has also produced and is producing ammunition, military transport vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
In 2007 the first small arm ever produced in UAE, the Caracal pistol, was introduced at IDEX. it became the official sidearm of the UAE armed forces and security forces. The National Guard of Bahrain adopted it shortly thereafter. Jordan ordered an unspecified number of pistol in April, 2008 during SOFEX, the Special Forces Exhibition held in Jordan. UAE and Algeria established on November, 17th, 2008 a joint committee in order to test the Caracal pistol for further adoption by Algeria .
A joint venture agreement was signed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 2007 between Tawazun Holding LLC, an investment company established by the Offset Program Bureau (OPB), Al Jaber Trading Establishment, part of Al Jaber Group, and Rheinmetall Munitions Systems, to set up the Al Burkan munition factory at the Zayed Military City in Abu Dhabi.
The OSP signed four Memorandums of Understanding with leading companies from Europe and Singapore at the Paris Eurosatory 2008 defense exhibition on Junen 20th, Rheinmetall Group and Diehl Defence Holding of Germany, Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engg), and Thales of France.
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2003 edition".
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