The Most Powerful Army That You've Never Heard Of

[livingdead]

use Mr Google on her...................
and you shall see the light

your signature is soo offensive..

 

[marbella]

use Mr Google on her...................
and you shall see the light

qaum ki beti... neemo caught showing his tharak.

 

[xyxmt]

the Army of God

 

[Selous]

During the siege of Fallujah US army used illegal incendiary rounds M110, something the Israeli army never used.

No Israel just used phosphorus and blew peoples living rooms up.

 

[Ceylal]

Kaddaffy and Saddam , in the Arab mind had the most powerful armies in the world. In fact Libya was just like mega dealership of armement. Both Iraqi and Libyan army melted like a 3rd grade butter, when bullets start flying. Now, the UAE is shown as the little Emirate that could. You all got to be kidding!
If they are that potent, why the need of Foreign army bases?
In the whole UAE there is only one man..her

It does look like PDF become a bizarre bazar of snake oil.

 

[shuntmaster]

Looks like UAE has the strongest and most effective military in the Muslim world.

 

[C130]

Come on now.

Stronger than US? Stronger than Russia? Stronger than Turkey? Stronger than Iran? Stronger than India?

for their size and population they seem strong...well at least equipment wise, but can they project that power beyond their borders??? no...so it doesn't really matter.

 

[marbella]

Kaddaffy and Saddam , in the Arab mind had the most powerful armies in the world. In fact Libya was just like mega dealership of armement. Both Iraqi and Libyan army melted like a 3rd grade butter, when bullets start flying. Now, the UAE is shown as the little Emirate that could. You all got to be kidding!
If they are that potent, why the need of Foreign army bases?
In the whole UAE there is only one man..her
View attachment 151920
It does look like PDF become a bizarre bazar of snake oil.

a valid point.

 

[Jf Thunder]

your signature is soo offensive..

good for you..............

 

[Capt.Popeye]

No, you are here for that, please do not speak for everybody else as you are not their spokesperson. As far as I know, you do not have a military analyst backing up your claim.

@Capt.Popeye
How would you define military cooperation vis-a-vis the UAE and its partner nations in the early 80s and 90's?

@Dazzler @Najam Khan

How many Pakistani pilots were deputed in the UAE to train them and fly for them earlier on?

@Oscar; do only Equipment and various kinds of thingamajigs make or constitute an Army?
I am afraid not.........not by quite a long shot. Then even the Armed Forces of KSA would be up there.....with the best in the world. Its not.
An Army (or any force) needs to have a professional ethos, and most importantly a group of people aka soldiers who are willing to kill or die for their own country.
Just as an illustration; let me tell you about my experience in Kuwait after it was liberated from Saddam's occupation. I was in a team that was in Kuwait immediately after that to set up a civilian sea-lift effort to rapidly build up the Coalition Forces. The stories that I heard from locals there were interesting and even grossly amusing as to what their Govt and Armed Forces did to defend them!

The main thing is that the Forces in UAE or elsewhere in the Gulf States/ Kingdoms and GCC are solely intended to protect and preserve the Ruling Families, period.
How well they can and will do that is still a matter for speculation.

 

[JonAsad]

PIERRE BIENAIMÈ AND ARMIN ROSEN
NOV. 6, 2014, 5:14 PM

View attachment 151426
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (C) watches the closing ceremony during joint military manoeuvres between the UAE and the French army in the desert of Abu Dhabi on May 2, 2012. Reuters.
​

The United Arab Emirates is flexing its military muscle in a chaotic, post-Arab Spring Middle East.

What was once a nation with a limited presence on the international stage is acquiring advanced weaponry, instituting universal military service, and expanding its fleet of fighter jets and heavy vehicles.

A country of less than 10 million citizens has even proven willing frequently to use military force around the region.

The biggest sign of this came in August, when the UAE cooperated with Egypt to bomb Islamist militias vying for the Libyan capital; the Emirates had contributed a dozen aircraft to the international campaign that helped oust Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi back in 2011. Also in 2011, it contributed troops to the multi-national force that crushed a peaceful uprising in Bahrain in 2011 and the country is involved in anti-ISIS operations as well.

The UAE had the 15th-highest military expenditures of any country in the world in 2013 according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its military spending has nearly doubled in the last ten years; behind Saudi Arabia it enjoys the second biggest defense budget of the oil-rich Gulf states at more than $14 billion.

It's also on pace to become the world's third-largest defense importer in 2015.

A network of monarchical city states that includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi is now the rising military power in the Middle East.

View attachment 151428
Smoke is seen after United Arab Emirates F-16 fighter jets fired missiles during joint military manoeuvres with the French army in the desert of Abu Dhabi May 2, 2012. Reuters.​

The UAE has backed up its military expansion with an assertive and independent-minded foreign policy.

Neither Egypt nor the UAE informed the United States of the anti-Islamist air strikes in Libya, attacks which AFP reported "signaled a step toward direct action by regional Arab states that previously have fought proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Iraq in a struggle for power and influence."

At the same time, the US working with UAE as an ally in the fight against ISIS. It's one of five Arab nations to contribute to bombing efforts against the group, and the country hosts Australian fighter jets on its territory. The US also bases aircraft at Al Dhafra airbase, outside of Abu Dhabi.

The Emirates are involved in intelligence efforts to counter ISIS' expansion. Last week the country's foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, warned of a potentially growing link between ISIS and al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda subsidiary operating in the Horn of Africa.

“As groups like Daesh [Islamic State] develop ties to criminal networks and arms networks like al-Shabab, it is essential that we prevent them from expanding their operations into the sea and threaten vital channels such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, Bab al Mandab and the Gulf of Aden,” he said at a conference on counter-piracy in Dubai.

View attachment 151429
Members of the United Arab Emirates' armed forces participate in the opening ceremony of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) on Feb. 17, 2013.
​

The UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are even in talks to form a coalition "not intended to intervene in Iraq or Syria but to act separately to address other extremist hot spots," according to the AP. Budding conflicts cited by anonymous Egyptian military officials included Libya and Yemen, where an Iranian-armed Shi'ite militia has taken over the capital.

Iran actually helps explain why the UAE has expanded its military so rapidly.

The UAE is mostly thought of as an economic power — Dubai is a center of world finance and the UAE has oil and gas deposits along with some of the busiest ports in the Middle East. But it's just across the Gulf from Iran, a country with which it actually has a number of outstanding border disputes.

The UAE's purchase of new ships and aircraft from the US, an upgrade of its F-16 force — which now boasts some of the most advanced versions of that aircraft in use anywhere in the world — and its interest in the F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet may give it a qualitative military edge over its much larger and geopolitically meddlesome neighbor.

The UAE could be also be using its military buildup to project power and jostle for greater prestige in the wider global community. That could explain why Abu Dhabi has such vaunted ambitions around one other traditional marker of national greatness: space exploration. In July the country announced that it would create a space agency by 2021 and planned on sending a probe to Mars.

View attachment 151430
French-made Mirage 2000 and U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets of the United Arab Emirates forces take part in joint military maneuvres with the French army in the desert of Abu Dhabi May 2, 2012.​

But the Emirates might be looking a bit closer to home, too.

The Arab Spring proved that none of the region's leaders were totally safe from internal turmoil — and demonstrated that the Middle East's political and security climate could shift in ways that almost no one can predict.

The UAE has used a degree of internal oppression to solidify its situation in an unstable region, arresting dozens of Islamist activists, and exiling secular voices of dissent, like the once Dubai-based Arab Spring activist Iyad al-Baghdadi.

The country's conservative rulers see Islamists as a threat to the existing state system in the Middle East, which explains the UAE's willingness to carry out airstrikes against militants in Libya and Syria — and its hostility towards Islamist parties at home.

Also on the domestic front, the UAE introduced mandatory conscription this past June for males between the ages of 18-30. Those with a high school education must serve for nine months, and those without for a full two years.

The UAE is an autocracy in a time when no Middle Eastern government's rule seems totally secure. And it's a fairly prosperous country in a region where threats can emerge without warning.

Its rapid militarization and assertive security policy is a way of keeping its edge in this uncertain environment.

Read more: The Most Powerful Army You've Never Heard Of - Business Insider

Ok-
On paper- Yes--
Region- must be Middle East no where else-
Fact: once Iraq and Libya were also the most powerful paper army you've never heard of-
End Result- All Bogus claims-
Ok-

 

[Jayhawk]

Thread title is misleading, should be rising power of middle east or something.

 

[Ceylal]

Thread title is misleading, should be rising power of middle east or something.

It isn't even a rising power , it's a more likely a buying power boulimia....If it was a rising power, what did the US judge his coalition with arab air forces extremely negative, that they had to call in the Canadians, the Aussies and put their own troops in the front line to designate targets. Arabs are used to farm out their battles to others, a fact of their past and reality of their future and we are witnessing it today....

 

[Green Arrow]

Some interesting facts about UAE army

 

[kaku1]

Yes, especially as the Pakistan army, as good or bad as it might be, is unable to create full stability in the country. If Pakistan was not engaged in that conflict with India or bordered a country such as Afghanistan you guys might have focused on things that are actually of utmost importance.

Such as economic progress, security, stability etc. You get my drift.

What a nonsense . So, why KSA spending much more on defense, what the KSA threat perception for such lot of spending?