India, on 8 April, offered the indigenous Akash air defence missile system to the UAE, even as the two countries decided to step-up their bilateral defence cooperation in fields ranging from military exercises and training exchanges to defence-industrial collaboration, joint projects, R&D and technology transfer.

The offer for the Akash system, which can intercept hostile aircraft, helicopters, drones and subsonic cruise missiles at a range of 25-km, was made at the delegation-level meeting between defence minister Rajnath Singh and the visiting Dubai crown prince and UAE deputy PM Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

This is in keeping with India’s ongoing thrust to export the Akash system, Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems and the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to “friendly countries”, especially in the Gulf and Asean regions.

While India has already exported BrahMos coastal batteries to the Philippines, Armenia has become the first foreign customer for the Akash, Pinaka and 155mm artillery guns.

India and the UAE at the meeting acknowledged that bilateral defence cooperation needs to be scaled up to match the progress made in other areas such as trade and business, in line with “the vision and determination of the two leaders”, PM Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The two leaders “identified training exchanges as one of the key areas of defence cooperation which would enable understanding of each other’s defence ecosystems and accelerate strengthening of bilateral defence ties,” an official said.

The two sides decided that close collaboration between their defence industries should be an integral part of the bilateral cooperation and discussed opportunities for enhancing partnerships in defence manufacturing.

They welcomed the India-UAE Defence Partnership Forum, which has the potential to result in strategic joint ventures and co-production projects benefiting the two countries. “They also agreed to focus on complementarities in the Make-in-India and Make-in-Emirates initiatives,” the official said.

Significantly, apart from bilateral military exercises and initiatives, India and UAE have also teamed up with France to collaborate in a trilateral framework launched in 2022 in several areas including defence, technology, energy and environment, in tune with an ambitious roadmap chalked out by them.

In the military arena, the three countries, in December last year, had conducted a major air combat exercise “Desert Knight” over the Arabian Sea to strengthen trilateral defence cooperation and enhance military interoperability amid the ongoing geopolitical churn.

The navies of the three countries had also conducted their first-ever maritime partnership exercise to hone their combat skills against traditional as well as non-traditional threats through a wide spectrum of operations on the high seas in June 2023.

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Next week the Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane will be on a four-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Besides meeting with his counterparts in these countries, he will also be meeting with other senior officials in both countries. Sources have confirmed to Financial Express Online, “From the Gulf Region countries including Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia have expressed interest in buying the Indo-Russian BrahMos Missile. The talks are still in the early stages and further discussions put on hold due to the global lockdown due to COVID-19.”

According to sources, “In the first-ever visit by any Indian Army Chief to the Saudi Kingdom, he will address the Saudi National Defence College, besides other meetings with senior officials.” Gen Naravane’s visit to UAE comes close on the heels of the recently concluded visit by the external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the region.

The Gulf countries which have been trying to diversify their economies are getting more interested in developing their defence industries which are still in their nascent stage. For these countries, India is a preferred partner. Earlier this week, India had condemned a missile attack that targeted an Aramco oil facility located in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea city of Jeddah.

What did MEA say?

“India stands in solidarity with the people of Saudi Arabia against such attacks,” the official spokesperson of MEA, Anurag Srivastava had said in response to a question-related to the attempted attack.

India’s GCC Outreach

India has been focusing on several sectors for deepening cooperation in sectors including: Space, Maritime Awareness, Joint Defence Production & exports; security and trade cooperation. The main interest of the Gulf countries is mainly in shipbuilding, munitions, small arms, unmanned platforms and specially designed armoured vehicles. They are mostly interested in Russian, Chinese and Western platforms and systems.

India & UAE

As has been reported by Financial Express Online, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been to the UAE three times and has been conferred with the highest honour Sheikh Zayed medal.

UAE is playing a very significant role in the Persian Gulf crisis and for India’s well-being peace in West Asia is very critical. The Army Chief is likely to discuss the situation, the US-Iran relations as well as counter-terrorism cooperation.

When last year the UAE had announced an investment of $ 75 billion in India, the leadership of Saudi Arabia had raised their investment to around $ 100 billion and had also invited the Indian companies to explore their potential.

UAE has inked defence cooperation agreements with India. Also, the Indian Ordnance Factories had inked an agreement to supply ammunition to the Emirati Military.

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