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UAE to Buy Into U.S. Plan to Deploy Anti-Missile System

By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)Published: December 17, 2008

The United Arab Emirates will become the first country in the world, other than the United States, to deploy the advanced anti-missile system THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. The Middle East Times first reported on the potential deal in its Dec. 15 edition that the United States wants to see the oil rich Gulf states purchase, install and join a unified missile defense system that would provide complete aerial coverage to the region, from Kuwait in the northern Gulf to Oman on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Not sure why the UAE would want a $7 billion missile defence system. Who are their threats? Iran obviously, but they are so close that it's not like stopping BM (assuming they fired them) would save you. They would, presumably, launch air-strikes then invade from the sea. If you're close enough to send bombers from your home bases then you'd just blow up the missile defence sites first wouldn't you?

Hmm... According to that wiki page they are vehicle mounted so I guess much harder to take out.

When it comes to SAM, AAMs etc, I hear Russia is the best.

Why does UAE want to waste so much on US-made weapons when its bound to fail?

Captain Australia wrote:Not sure why the UAE would want a $7 billion missile defence system. Who are their threats? Iran obviously, but they are so close that it's not like stopping BM (assuming they fired them) would save you. They would, presumably, launch air-strikes then invade from the sea. If you're close enough to send bombers from your home bases then you'd just blow up the missile defence sites first wouldn't you?

Hmm... According to that wiki page they are vehicle mounted so I guess much harder to take out.

Have to agree, no real threat to the UAE, apart from the obvious and that certainly won't be from missile deployment.

Anyway, can the UAE afford that now?

muslimbangladeshi wrote:When it comes to SAM, AAMs etc, I hear Russia is the best.

Why does UAE want to waste so much on US-made weapons when its bound to fail?

Yeah, right. Which is why the USSR fell apart after Gulf War 1 when they realised that the Russian weapons technology was about 30 years behind the US.

Surprisingly, the internationally accepted best SAM and A2A products come from France and South Africa.



Knight

USA wants UAE to start war with Iran. Otherwise no reason for a SAM. What has UAE got to fear? Would Iran attack UAE knowing that so many iranians live in UAE?

Dubai Knight wrote:Yeah, right. Which is why the USSR fell apart after Gulf War 1 when they realised that the Russian weapons technology was about 30 years behind the US.

Knight

Crap, as usual. It was very distant fear and that old weapon was totally enough to protect SU and destroy all the World a few times.

US had and has nothing to stop Soviet missles... Their "Star wars" program had been borrowed from Lukas and was the same fantasy as the movie...

US weapon for local conflicts probably is better than Russian, but it's also much better than European ones...

THAAD is not Ballistic missile specific to begin with. Its endo-atmospheric capabilities can also be used for regular air defence mission against manned aircrafts as well, although that will be a bit of an overkill for sure.

Considering the magnitude of the order though:

"United Arab Emirates requested the sale of three THAAD fire units, 147 missiles, four THAAD radars, six fire control stations and nine launchers...." (from army-technology website)

.....it would seem that UAE is getting jittery about Iranian Scud attacks (maybe as "lash out attacks" in the event of hostilities with US), BUT for most part this purchase points to a compliance to US demands to build up an integrated missile defence system for its interests and allies in Persian Gulf region. If they are using the same hardware its easier.

I also think it is an effort by the US to use the high performance Ballistic missile warning and tracking RADAR, the Raytheon Systems AN/TPY-2 ground-based radar (GBR) that will come with the THAAAD system for early warning against attacks in its own presence in the area.

Nice to see some ignorant Westerner (who happens to be a moderator) getting 'owned' by RC.

Making up useless statements and publishing them as 'facts' seems to be a Western monopoly. Only Westerners seem to utter such tripe, rubbish, junk at unprecedented rates.

Red Chief wrote:

Dubai Knight wrote:Yeah, right. Which is why the USSR fell apart after Gulf War 1 when they realised that the Russian weapons technology was about 30 years behind the US.

Knight

Crap, as usual. It was very distant fear and that old weapon was totally enough to protect SU and destroy all the World a few times.

US had and has nothing to stop Soviet missles... Their "Star wars" program had been borrowed from Lukas and was the same fantasy as the movie...

US weapon for local conflicts probably is better than Russian, but it's also much better than European ones...

Exactly what I had said. Russian Federation is the best in this field.

Is UAE Airforce serious on induction of Dassault Rafale aircrafts?

Link
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/2008060...e-3cd7efd.html

UAE eyes France's Rafale fighter

ABU DHABI (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates said on Thursday it was mulling replacing its fleet of French Mirage 2000 combat planes with the multi-role Rafale, which has yet to find an export market.
(Advertisement)

"The UAE is seriously considering replacing its fleet of Mirage 2000 combat planes with the French new generation Rafale fighter starting in 2013," an official was quoted by the state WAM news agency as saying.

"Discussions on this issue are under way between the UAE government and France," he said.

The official did not give more details but the oil-rich Gulf country's purchase of the Rafale would be a major boost for Dassault Aviation's fourth-generation combat jet.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy immediately welcomed the announcement as "good news for France.

"The United Arab Emirates has been using French weaponry for a long time," he said in a statement. "They are looking at the Rafale to replace their fleet of 63 Mirage 2000 planes."

He said there was "no fixed dates, nor have commercial negotiations begun" but added that "discussions will be held in the coming weeks."

"In case a contract is signed, the first planes can be delivered from 2012 onwards."


Apparently they would be replacing the 68 Mirage 2000 now based at Al Dhafra.

Now why this sudden move for Rafale. The existing Mirages are late model versions with advanced avionics and 32 have already been upgraded further. Moreover the UAE Mirage fleet has been sparingly used with majority of airframes in storage. In fact, the overall airframe life is very young. Is the rafale move a result of lobbying by Dassult which is desperate for export orders for Rafale?

If Rafale is eventually acquired what will be the fate of the Mirages? There was some talk of a buy back by Dassault. Interesting to see how that turns out. There are some potential customers for these "älmost new" Mirage 2000s.

I suggest you watch a good film called Syriana to get good understanding on the relation between Gulf countries and the United State . It might be a film, but it’s very good at painting a realistic picture of the relationship.

The US has been working so hard to install fear into the minds of those Gulf countries’ leaders about Iran, and it’s allegedly unclear weapon. So they could maintain selling their weapon to those leaders whom would do anything to stay in power.

Talking of unclear weapon, Israel has nuclear weapon for a long time. Have we hear about it, of course not because Israel is a close allay to the US. And to be honest, after the Gaza’s genocide the Gulf countries should be very afraid of Israel’s nuclear weapon, because Israel have no respect for human lives but themselves.

No wonder why the American is so rich, they’ve been selling weapon to the Israelis and telling them to fight on, and at the same time, to the Arab and telling them to defend themselves. And Uncle Sam setting safely counting the profit lol

Personally, I found Syriana boring but that's just my opinion. I much preferred Iron Man's simplistic take on the defense industry.

As for determining which weapons system is "best", it has historically been virtually impossible to proclaim a winner until they literally fight it out. Even if we had the actual equipment specifications (while possible, I highly doubt anyone on this forum does), any statement about the superiority of one over the other is an educated guess at best.

Humbleman wrote:I suggest you watch a good film called Syriana to get good understanding on the relation between Gulf countries and the United State . It might be a film, but it’s very good at painting a realistic picture of the relationship.

To be frank I had been surprised very much watching that movie... If It wasn't American movie I would think that It was Soviet propaganda...

As for me I'm not sure that it was realistic in terms of relationship between countries but some features were rather real, espesially 3 semiconstructed skyscrapers on the entrance to Sharjah.
They had been dark and empty 2 years after constructiion due to shortage of electrisity in Sharjah...

maybe USA wants Iran to attack UAE. USA is always looking for reasons and excuses like they got nothing to do. so they will make a huge fuss out of three itzy bitzy islands and we will have a war

Also interesting to note that later this month, the UAE hosts IDEX...the largest military weapons exhibition in the world!



Knight

Dubai Knight wrote:Also interesting to note that later this month, the UAE hosts IDEX...the largest military weapons exhibition in the world!



Knight

they always host it :S whats so interesting about it :S

Dubai Knight wrote:Also interesting to note that later this month, the UAE hosts IDEX...the largest military weapons exhibition in the world!



Knight

Do you know if there's any way for a member of the public (non-military, non-business) to visit that?