The United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force and air defence command has scrapped plans to acquire a fleet of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, and is instead exploring options for an airborne intelligence and battlefield control capability.
Air force commander Maj Gen Khalid Bin Abdullah says the UAE’s integrated national air defence radar network and a Northrop Grumman-supplied command and control system employed by the UAE and other Gulf Co-operation Council states for the past two years provides a single recognised air picture for the entire region.
The priority for the UAE now is in fielding command, intelligence-gathering and air surveillance capabilities, he says. Although parts of this requirement could be satisfied using unmanned air vehicles, the air force is also interested in acquiring manned special mission aircraft.
The UAE will finish introducing its own integrated command and control system to link its service arms by 2007, and a full network-centric warfare capability will be available from 2008, Khalid told the Defense News Middle East Air Chiefs conference in Dubai on the eve of the show.
This will provide full data interoperability between its Dassault Mirage 2000-9 and Lockheed Martin F-16E/F fighters, he says. “With that complete transparency, they can work either together in one formation or they can share their information between them.”
The decision to step back from an AEW&C purchase comes as a disappointment to Northrop, which had taken part in multiple rounds of negotiations with the UAE over the past three years about the purchase of E-2C Hawkeyes. The company says it is seeking talks with Khalid to clarify the change in air force requirements, and to determine whether an alternative aircraft need be proposed.
Embraer and Saab used the show to promote their EMB-145- and Saab 2000-based concepts for special mission aircraft able to be used for a variety of tasks, including AEW; maritime surveillance; border and search-and-rescue control and communications; and electronic intelligence-gathering. Kuwait, Oman and the UAE are regarded as potential customers for such systems.
The Brazilian air force deployed one of its five EMB-145SA AEW&C aircraft to the Dubai show, representing its first deployment of the type outside Latin America.
Saab, meanwhile, remains confident of closing a SKr8.3 billion ($1 billion) contract with Pakistan before year-end for the delivery of five Saab 2000s equipped with Ericsson Microwave Systems’ Erieye AEW radar, says deputy chief executive Ingmar Anderssen.
Source: Flight International
