ABU DHABI — The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces on Monday announced
19 arms purchases worth $2.58 billion at the IDEX show in Abu Dhabi.
The
deals announced include the purchase of two Falcon Eye intelligence
satellites, 500 armored vehicles, offshore patrol vessels and unmanned
aerial systems.
The announcement
made by IDEX spokesman Maj. Gen. Obeid al-Kitbi, highlighted that the
Falcon Eye contract was for $1.02 billion. The
contract, which was signed last summer with Airbus Defence & Space
and Thales Alenia Space, was for high-performance Earth-observation
satellite system.
The contract also covers a ground system and training for UAE
engineers, who will control the satellites once in orbit, Airbus Defence
& Space told Defense News in December.
Another
major contract worth $330 million was announced with Nimr Automotive,
the UAE-based armored vehicle manufacturer owned by Emirates Defence
Industries Company (EDIC), for the delivery of 500 4X4 vehicles this
year.
The deal has been made for five variants of Nimr's AJBAN 4x4 vehicles.
A second agreement provides for the upgrade of 500 Nimr vehicles deployed by the Armed Forces of the UAE across the country.
Another
EDIC company, Al Taif Technical Services, has signed a contract valued
at $640 million to provide maintenance services, supply management and
technical training for the UAE Land Forces.
