ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Multi-year negotiations for the United Arab Emirates to procure MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones are in their late stages, executives from manufacturer General Atomics said in an interview at the IDEX arms fair here.
David Alexander, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, said that the relations his company has enjoyed with the Gulf country have remained continuous. “For about ten years, we have been working closely with the Emirati Air Force, primarily through the MQ-1 program and the UAE showing interest in acquiring some of our other platforms, which has allowed us to maintain a tremendous and enduring relationship with them,” he said.
However, for capabilities such as the MQ-1 or MQ-9B to receive export approval and clearance can be a lengthy process. Alexander added: “The Emiratis couldn’t wait forever for U.S. export policy decisions to be made – so in the meantime they did purchase stuff from the Chinese, from Turkey and other partners. … It has been this way all along. Does it bother us? I mean, it’s competition, but we are in no way afraid of competition.”
Two years ago, the UAE withdrew its letter of offer acceptance after the Biden administration stalled an agreement, previously cleared by the Trump government concerning the sale of precision strike weapons, F-35s and MQ-9B drones.
Regarding where the talks for the drones stand today, the company is clear that they never stopped in the first place.
“Negotiations with the UAE to acquire MQ-9B SeaGuardians are ongoing and showing continued signs of healthy progress,” said C. Mark Brinkley, spokesman for General Atomics.
Given the important amount of ship traffic moving through the Gulf country, having effective and continuous maritime domain awareness is critical for Emirati security.
General Atomic officials hope to advance a push this year to integrate its drones with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications systems, which offers the potential of reducing operational costs and having a smaller hardware footprint. Recently, General Atomics carried out three successful trial flights of the MQ-9A fitted with an LEO relay system in an evaluation configuration.
Although the company did not disclose the identity of the LEO provider, it is believed to be Space X’s Starlink.
“The next phase [for this] would be to provide a path for integration of the system into existing Reaper fleets for customers to use in an operational capacity,” said Brinkley, adding that company officials had already pitched the option to multiple customers.
Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.
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- Source: https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2023/02/21/general-atomics-uae-advance-talks-over-mq-9b-drones/
