UAE-US military deal worth half billion dollars
The UAE is still progressing its violent foreign policy state in the Middle East and North Africa, despite the devastation, famine, and diseases it has spread by its interference.
The Emirati regime continues its obsession with armament and the conclusion of military deals in millions to serve its conspiracy to expand its influence and wage wars and military interventions in many Arab countries.
Once again, the US State Department agreed to a possible sale of MRAP armoured vehicles to the United Arab Emirates, valued at more than half a billion dollars.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced in a statement on its website that the US State Department agreed to sell up to 4,569 MRAP vehicles to the UAE, with a combined value of $556 million.
The deal includes 12 types of vehicles that have been agreed upon between the UAE government and the agency.
The US agency justified the sale, the sale will support US foreign policy and national security goals for the United States by helping to improve the security of an important regional partner. The United Arab Emirates has been and remains a vital partner of the United States for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.
The agency said this sale is in line with US initiatives to provide key allies in the region with modern systems that will enhance interoperability with American forces and increase security.
But the approval of the US State Department does not imply the completion of the sale, because the proposed deal will now be under review by the US Congress.
These vehicles of the same type have previously reached militias in Yemen and Libya – according to Western reports and investigations – including information published by the United Nations about these armored vehicles, however, by militias loyal to the southern transitional council backed by the Emirates in southern Yemen.
Arms sales to the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia have been a tense topic in the US Congress, as lawmakers have halted a number of deals for more than a year before the White House invoked emergency powers last year to defraud the sale.
American lawmakers have increasingly criticized the Saudi-led coalition war in Yemen against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, where human rights organizations have accused the coalition of war crimes.
In a report published last March, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that the UAE is still considered one of the ten most important countries that import weapons, and increased its import during the past five years, when it ranked eighth.
The UAE has been ranked the eighth globally among the largest arms importers in the world during the past five years (2015-2019). During the same period, the UAE imported 3.4 percent of global arms imports.
The UAE received massive weapons from 17 countries during the same period, and the United States acquired 68 percent of the UAE’s arms imports.
The ruling regime in the Emirates continues its obsession with armament and the conclusion of military deals in millions to serve its conspiracy to expand and influence and wage wars and military interventions in many Arab countries.
The American “Digital Journal” website stated that the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency provided information in November 2019 that the US State Department had agreed to sell ten Chinook heavy lift helicopters to the UAE.
The UAE has previously ordered 10 CH-47F helicopters (Chinook) in addition to a wide range of related equipment. The equipment includes navigation system, weapons, an extended fuel system, communications equipment, sensors and protection systems. It also includes support and training, and the total cost will be $830.3 million.
The Sunday Times said that the UAE was showcasing its power in the region and would not abandon its ambitions in Yemen even if the war stopped.
The newspaper said that the UAE is one of the most militarily intervening countries in the region. American generals in Afghanistan consider them “small spartans”, meaning that they are a military force dedicated to reshaping the delicate balance of power in the region.
