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United Arab Emirates Strengthens Its Defence
Events matter as they shape national security policy. From the perspective of the United Arab Emirates. (UAE) three events perfectly capture the country’s evolving security and defence role. Since 2007, when the UAE first deployed troops to support the international stabilisation mission in Afghanistan, the country’s leadership has been steadily working on strengthening its defence capabilities.
This ambition culminated in combat operations of the UAE Air Force against targets in Iraq and Libya in 2014. But the growing international footprint of the UAE also took its toll.
In September 2015 the UAE lost 45 soldiers in an attack against a military base of the Saudi and UAE-led forces fighting Houthi rebels inYemen. One year later, in October 2016, the same conflict caused another blow for the UAE. This time Houthi rebels fired missiles at the HSV-2 naval vessel operating off the coast of Yemen and severely damaged the platform.
These events and the underlying developments have accelerated the maturation of the UAE’s security and defence policy. Past clichés such as the belief that “glitter” matters more than real capabilities no longer hold true. The UAE has emerged as a serious regional power that is gradually projecting power beyond the Arabian Gulf into the Eastern Mediterranean as well as Northern and Eastern Africa. The country‘s growing economic ties with trade partners in the Asia-Pacific region drive its strategic interests eastwards, thus outlining the future geostrategic trajectory of the UAE.
...
A good read..
https://www.arabdefenseindustry.com/cmsfiles/publications/Borchert-alMakahleh_2.pdf
Events matter as they shape national security policy. From the perspective of the United Arab Emirates. (UAE) three events perfectly capture the country’s evolving security and defence role. Since 2007, when the UAE first deployed troops to support the international stabilisation mission in Afghanistan, the country’s leadership has been steadily working on strengthening its defence capabilities.
This ambition culminated in combat operations of the UAE Air Force against targets in Iraq and Libya in 2014. But the growing international footprint of the UAE also took its toll.
In September 2015 the UAE lost 45 soldiers in an attack against a military base of the Saudi and UAE-led forces fighting Houthi rebels inYemen. One year later, in October 2016, the same conflict caused another blow for the UAE. This time Houthi rebels fired missiles at the HSV-2 naval vessel operating off the coast of Yemen and severely damaged the platform.
These events and the underlying developments have accelerated the maturation of the UAE’s security and defence policy. Past clichés such as the belief that “glitter” matters more than real capabilities no longer hold true. The UAE has emerged as a serious regional power that is gradually projecting power beyond the Arabian Gulf into the Eastern Mediterranean as well as Northern and Eastern Africa. The country‘s growing economic ties with trade partners in the Asia-Pacific region drive its strategic interests eastwards, thus outlining the future geostrategic trajectory of the UAE.
...
A good read..
https://www.arabdefenseindustry.com/cmsfiles/publications/Borchert-alMakahleh_2.pdf