Two US aerospace and defence firms remain hopeful of supplying the UAE with a long-term airborne reconnaissance system despite seeing their rival, Saab of Sweden, land an initial contract from the emirate during the Dubai Air Show.
The UAE Air Force and Air Defence earlier this month agreed to purchase two Saab 340AEW reconnaissance aircraft for ?148.3 million (Dh822.8m), part of a major defence spending programme that has included fighter jets and defensive missile systems.
The Saab planes are equipped with radar that can detect missiles, aircraft and ships faster than land-based radar.
While announcing the purchase, Armed Forces officials stressed that the Saab planes would provide training and experience in such systems before a permanent system was chosen.
Saab constituted a "fast solution that achieves the current Air Force operational requirements", said Major Gen Pilot Faris Mohamed al Mazrouei, the Chief of Logistics Staff at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces. "We have to go for a solution because we need to train our people."
Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman said they had taken solace in the comments, which suggested a bigger contract could follow.
"We feel this decision truly fills an interim requirement they had, and that the long-term permanent airborne early warning and control solution is really going after state-of-the-art, fully interoperable advanced radar and advanced capabilities which the interim solution does not provide, but would be provided in [Northrop's] E-2D Advanced Hawkeye," said Jerry Spruill, the director of UAE airborne early warning and control programmes at Northrop Grumman.
The E-2D is the same aircraft the US navy will deploy in the Gulf and could theoretically give the UAE increased interoperability with its US ally.
Gen al Mazrouei called the aircraft "an ongoing project" that was still being tested.
Tim Norgart, a business development director for airborne systems at Boeing Integrated Defence Systems, touted Boeing's airborne early warning aeroplane, which is the only jet-engine version in the competition. It also has an electronically scanned radar like Saab, rather than Northrop's mechanically rotating system. He said Boeing was in a strong position to overcome Saab's propeller-driven aircraft, calling it a "smaller, less capable plane".
But Sten Soderstrom, the vice president of sales and marketing at Saab's defence division, said his firm was "very well positioned" to take the next procurement because of its leadership in electronically scanned radars.
"The UAE wants the most modern technology," he said. "Some competitors are at the beginning of this technology, where we have 15 years of experience."
@Email:igale@thenational.ae
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Trippier bio
Date of birth September 19, 1990
Place of birth Bury, United Kingdom
Age 26
Height 1.74 metres
Nationality England
Position Right-back
Foot Right
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