UAE buys Dh815m air defence upgrade

Mahmoud Habboush

• Last Updated: November 18. 2009 12:20AM UAE / November 17. 2009 8:20PM GMT

DUBAI // The UAE Armed Forces announced a unique deal yesterday designed to improve the nation’s air defence capabilities.

Officials said the decision to buy two Saab 340AEW reconnaissance aircraft for €148.3 million (Dh815m) would enhance the country’s early-warning system created to detect airborne threats.

The order is the first of its kind in the UAE, which had been relying on land-based systems alone.

Major Gen Pilot Faris Mohamed al Mazrouei, the Chief of Logistics Staff at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces, said the aircraft were chosen as an “interim” solution. He added that the Air Force and Air Defence were currently looking into other options that would meet long-term operational needs.

“This particular aircraft [Saab] is used to provide early-warning operations and training, being a fast solution that achieves the current Air Force operational requirements,” he said.

“We have to go for a solution because we need to train our people, integrate our system and to upgrade our system to airborne command and control.”

He said it had not been decided what the long-term choice would be but added that Northrop Grumman’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and Boeing’s 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (Awacs) aircraft were among contenders.

“E-2D is an ongoing project, it is not ready, it is not yet [tested], but we have a demand to train our people for the permanent solution, so the Saab 340 is an interim solution.”

The first Saab 340 will be delivered by the third quarter of next year and the second will arrive around the first quarter of 2011.

The UAE is looking to create one of the most advanced early warning systems in the world as the cornerstone of a missile defence shield the country is developing.

Experts said an airborne component would significantly improve the Armed Forces’ ability to detect incoming missiles and give command centres more time to react. This was because aircraft can cover areas beyond the reach of ground-based detection systems.

Riad Kahwaji, the chief executive of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said the Air Force’s desire to acquire an airborne early-warning system quickly had been prompted by operational requirements.

These included the need to confront potential threats including piracy, weapons and drugs smuggling, terrorist activities and, possibly, a ballistic missile attack.

He said the Saab 340AEW was a “good aircraft” that had been proven in service in Sweden, Pakistan and other countries over several years.

“Technically, however, we can find more advanced aircraft, such as the E-2D Hawkeye,” he said. “It’s a matter of inter-operability [as well], since most of the aircraft in that area are American-made.”

Major Gen al Mazrouei said the issue of inter-operability – how different systems and weapons platforms work together – was not a problem.

“Just like radars, early-warning aircraft are linked to the battle management centre at the Armed Forces,” he said. “The contact would take place electronically between the aircraft and the operations centre and then to other weapons.”

Sten Soderstrom, the vice president for sales at Saab, said the company would fit the aircraft with electronic systems that would make them compatible with any existing systems, at the UAE’s request.

The Saab aircraft uses what is referred to as an “electronically scanned antenna”, which means that its radar equipment does not need to be mechanically directed. The Boeing 737 uses the same technology, while the Hawkeye uses a mushroom-shaped antenna on the top of the fuselage that can be directed both mechanically and electronically.

Northrop Grumman said yesterday it remained “committed to the UAE’s long-term goal for state-of-the-art AEWAC [Airborne Early Warning And Control] aircraft with the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.”

A company official said earlier this year that Northrop Grumman had been in “talks” with the Air Force over the possible acquisition of the E-2D.

As well as the two Swedish Saab aircraft, the UAE also announced yesterday it would buy 25 PC-21 turboprop trainer aircraft for Dh890 million from Switzerland.

mhabboush@thenational.ae