|
|
 |
|
Viewing report
|
|
|
|
United Arab Emirates Defence and Security Report Q1 2011
Business Monitor International, Jan 2011, Pages: 81
Business Monitor International's United Arab Emirates Defence and Security Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, defence and security associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on United Arab Emirates's defence and security industry.
The United Arab Emirates has ramped up efforts to build up its military defence capabilities, in line with broader trends emerging throughout the Gulf. It has substantially increased arms imports over the last decade, and it likely to continue as a major arms importer. In the Gulf Region, the UAE is second only to Saudi Arabia in military expenditure. The UAE’s current contracts with suppliers for implementation and delivery include: four Patriot surface-to-air missiles, 60 UH-60M BlackHawk helicopters, 12 C-130J-30 Hercules aircraft, six C-17 transport aircraft, three A330 tanker/transport aircraft, 10 MB-339A trainer aircraft and 50 Pantsir-SIE hybrid air-defence systems and six Baynunah corvettes (ships). Procurement plans include three Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAD) anti-ballistic missile systems, 60 combat aircraft, 16 Chinook CH-47F transport helicopters, three airborne early warning aircraft and two Falaj-2 corvettes.
The US$7bn deal with the US to purchase the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAD) antiballistic missile systems – expected to be finalised in mid-2011 – would mark America's first overseas sale of the system, and underscores Washington's efforts to build up a sufficient regional military deterrent that could contain an increasingly assertive Iran. Although the UAE economy has been a world leader, especially in terms GDP growth and income per capita, the global downturn exposed some deep flaws in its approach, especially in Dubai. Projects of uncertain commercial value were financed with heavy leveraging. This activity left huge, unsustainable debts, and ongoing major economic woes for the Emirates, including at one stage, the possibility of default – averted with the support of Abu Dhabi in 2009.
After this recent experience of boom and bust, we forecast a slower but more sustainable growth trajectory for the UAE’s economy over the next five to 10 years. We expect real GDP to expand 4.8% in 2010, before slowing to 3.9% in 2011. Yet this 'recovery' will be primarily a reflection of an uptick in oil output, as well as the development of large-scale infrastructure projects financed by Abu Dhabi. We are forecasting average annual growth of 3.7% between 2011-2015, compared with 8.4% during the boom years of 2004-2008.
In a major new development in terrorism in the Arabian Peninsula, two sophisticated bombs were sent from Yemen to the US on freight aircraft on October 27 2010. The bombs, hidden in parcels containing printers, were intercepted en route – one in Dubai. Hidden inside each printer, the printer cartridges were packed with PETN – an explosive undetectable on x-rays. The bombs are the work of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen. As a base for a major branch of al-Qaeda, Yemen has been labelled ‘the new Afghanistan.’ In October 2010, the Emirates opened a naval base on its east coast, in the emirate of Fujairah, allowing direct access to the Arabian Sea. This base allows ships to bypass the Strait of Hormuz – in case Iran were ever to block this waterway, through which about 60% of the world’s oil passes.'
Product samples
A sample for this product is available. Please Login/Register to download this sample.
|
|
|
|
