Indigenous Military Reforms from the Outside: The Paradox of the UAE Armed Forces Modernisation

ABSTRACT

In the past two decades, the United Arab Emirates has pursued the goal of its military modernization through various reforms that were driven by the aspirations of its rulers for self-sufficiency and strategic autonomy. This meant a greater emphasis on building local skills and resources allowing Abu Dhabi to claim the indigenous character of that transformation. A stronger focus on indigenous capacities implied a decrease of that country’s dependence on Western patronage. However, the study of the Emirati military transformation reveals a complex and somewhat contradictory reality: the push for a local military reform still relying for the most part on foreign advisors. This article argues that this transformation may have strengthened the technical effectiveness of the Emirati military apparatus, but it did so, not by abandoning past ties to Western powers, but merely by adapting these ties. In fact, the “Emiratisation” of the country’s national security relied on the use of foreign expertise at all levels: from the training and education of officers to the command of military elite units and the development of local military industries. Such reliance on outside expertise eventually compromises the initial goal of the UAE for greater autonomous capability.

KEYWORDS:

• United Arab Emirates
• US security assistance
• military reforms
• military education
• strategic culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The UAE and the US signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) in 1994 that was renewed in 2017 for a 15-year period. The agreement provides the framework for the deployment of approximately 3500 US military personnel to the country. Since 2009, the UAE also hosts a French naval base in Abu Dhabi and about 800 French soldiers are permanently stationed across the country as part of a bilateral defense agreement.

2. Interview with UAE Presidential Guard members, April 2018.

3. Interview with American employees of a consulting company working for the UAE Ministry of Defense, March 2019.

4. Interviews with US and French officers based in Abu Dhabi, September-October 2016.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jean-Loup Samaan

Jean-Loup Samaan is a senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore.