Russia would like to sign up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a customer for its GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) offering, possibly as a prelude to more deals with the UAE. Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov discussed the possibility during his Nov. 26 talks with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as part of Moscow’s broader military-technical and economic outreach to the UAE.
In mid-November, a Russian delegation led by Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Rostech State Corp. CEO Sergey Chemezov was one of the largest at the Dubai Airshow, the biggest aviation exhibition in Asia. Moscow aspires to greater military-technical cooperation with Abu Dhabi and is keen to overcome the stagnation in this field observed after the 1990s and 2000s, when Russia was a major supplier of arms and equipment for the UAE military.
During that time, the UAE bought several series of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles that, according to Russian sources, are still the main combat vehicle in the mechanized brigades. The UAE also bought 9K38 Igla shoulder-fired missiles and BM-30 Smerch heavy multiple rocket launchers. In 2000, Russia agreed to create the Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system (SA-22 Greyhound) exclusively for the UAE military. However, that was the UAE's last large-scale military purchase from Russia, as the UAE had mainly finished its upgrades, having also bought tanks and aircraft from France, F-16s and Apache helicopters from the United States, and G6 self-propelled howitzers from South Africa.
At that stage, the UAE started to build a national military industry to produce arms and equipment on its own territory. Russian specialists also took part in this process, helping to build several types of armored fighting vehicles. Later, cooperation between Russia and the UAE military industries became limited, existing mostly as repair and service of the Russian armament already in use. In 2013, Russia agreed to provide the UAE with a new installment of Arkan anti-tank missiles for the BMP vehicles.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
