The Arab Gulf states are increasingly investing in acquiring and developing uninhabited and autonomous capabilities – such as uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) and uninhabited ground vehicles (UGVs) – to offset manpower constraints, minimise risks to personnel on the battlefield and address logistical challenges such as extended time spent at sea. These technologies promise to overcome training hurdles, as it is generally easier, cheaper and faster to train a UAV pilot than a traditional aircraft pilot. Autonomy will also allow operators to control greater numbers of assets than is currently possible. But with AI for military applications still in its infancy in most Arab Gulf states due to the large financial, human and computational input required, these countries may remain dependent on partners to develop the technology for the foreseeable future.
Time to go shopping In recent years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has placed orders for around 500 UAVs, supplementing its existing fleet of Chinese UAVs. In the land domain, the UAE ordered 20 tracked robotic combat vehicles and 40 THeMIS uninhabited ground vehicles from EDGE subsidiary Milrem Robotics in 2024. Its coast guard already operates uninhabited surface vehicles (USVs), and the UAE Navy in November 2024 selected French company Exail to supply an uninhabited mine-countermeasures system.
Saudi Arabia, which has been operating Chinese UAVs for a decade, signed a USD3 billon deal in 2023 for an undisclosed number of Turkish Bayraktar Akinci UAVs. Neighbouring Qatar’s armed forces acquired smaller Bayraktar TB2 UAVs in 2018, and its Ministry of Interior recently purchased a Turkish USV for the coastguard. Meanwhile, in 2023 Kuwait bought an undisclosed number of TB2s for USD367 million and a semi-autonomous mine-countermeasures system from Saab. Finally, Oman procured a small number of CH-4 UAVs from China sometime after 2020.
Local development efforts These recent acquisitions have been complemented by several domestic development programmes.
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