Desert countries are frequently victims of their elevation. They tend to be mostly flat, making it tough for air to climb upwards and form rain clouds. The United Arab Emirates thinks there's a direct solution to this, however: make your own mountain. It's in the early stages of developing an artificial mountain that would force air upwards and create clouds that (with seeding) could produce additional rainfall. In theory, an arid landscape could become verdant over time.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) appears to be constructing a new port next to Assab International Airport in Eritrea, which could become its first permanent military base in a foreign country.
Satellite imagery shows rapid progress has been made since work began sometime after September 2015. A square of coastline measuring about 250x250 m has already been excavated and dredged, while a pier and/or breakwater is being constructed and already extends over 700 m from the original coastline.
The UAE has signed a memorandum of understanding with the People’s Republic of China concerning defining a framework for collaboration in studies and development in space science, as well as the peaceful exploration of outer space. The signing came during the visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, to China. The visit aimed at exploring collaboration opportunities in various sectors, including energy, space, financial services, commerce, transportation and education.
According to the new MoU, the UAE Space Agency and China National Space Agency will represent the two countries in exchanging information, studies and scientific data in the field of space exploration and peaceful exploitation. The data exchange will include scientific and research expertise, as well as training, capacity building, lectures, conferences, and other space related domains.
The MoU also covers collaboration in research and development of satellites for scientific, testing, remote sensing, and communications purposes. The collaboration will include services such as launching, follow up, control, as well as developing and controlling ground satellite systems.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have both acquired Chinese-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to meet urgent operational requirements arising from their military intervention in Yemen, it was revealed during a panel discussion held by the Atlantic Council think tank on 8 December.
"The drones the UAE is using in Yemen are Chinese because they failed to get US approval," US Marine Corps General (retired) James L Jones said. Gen Jones served as National Security Advisor in 2009-2010 and is now affiliated with the Atlantic Council.
Nawaf Obaid, a former advisor to the Saudi ambassadors to the United Kingdom and the United States, immediately added "that is true, us too", indicating Saudi Arabia has also acquired Chinese UAVs because it could not obtain US ones.
"[The UAVs are] an example of things we could have done, but we didn't do, and now people who are more agile have been able to send drones to the UAE," Jones said. "We have a serious problem in the way and the speed with which we come to the aid of our friends and allies with equipment."
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a joint statement published on state news agency SPA.
"The countries here mentioned have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint operations center based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations," the statement said.
A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, together with Islamic countries Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and Gulf Arab and African states were mentioned.
The announcement cited "a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations whatever their sect and name which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorize the innocent."
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in the final stages of negotiations to buy French Rafale fighter jets, the head of the Gulf nation’s air force told Reuters on Wednesday.
Abu Dhabi, which is looking to purchase 60 fighters worth an estimated $10 billion, is studying the Dassault-built Rafale after rejecting the four-nation Eurofighter.
“I think we are in the final stage of negotiations,” Major General Ibrahim Nasser Al Alawi, commander of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence, said in an interview at the Dubai Airshow when asked how close the UAE was to a deal to buy the Rafale.
In Paris, the French defense ministry declined to comment and Dassault Aviation was not immediately available.
The United Arab Emirates has selected the AW609 design from AgustaWestland to fulfill its requirement for a tiltrotor search and rescue aircraft, the Armed Forces' Joint Aviation Command announced Tuesday.
However, a senior Boeing official told Defense News late Tuesday that the agreement should have no impact on ongoing discussions with the UAE about Bell Boeing’s V-22 design, as the company is targeting a different mission for the Osprey.
The selection of the AW609 gives a launch customer for the search and rescue design of the aircraft.
Delivery of the first three aircraft is expected to start in the "2019 timeframe," AgustaWestland said in a news release, while the UAE holds options on three more aircraft. The systems will be operated by the UAE's Joint Aviation Command.
Russia is negotiating with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) possible deliveries of Sukhoi Su-35 fighters, Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec head Sergey Chemezov said Sunday.
As per the India-France Joint Statement issued by the two countries during the Prime Minister's visit to France, Government of India conveyed to the Government of France that in view of the critical operational necessity for Multirole Combat Aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF), Government of India would like to acquire (36) Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly as possible. The two leaders agreed to conclude an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for supply of the aircraft on terms that would be better than conveyed by Dassault Aviation as part of a separate process underway, the delivery would be in time-frame that would be compatible with the operational requirement of IAF; and that the aircraft and associated systems and weapons would be delivered on the same configuration as had been tested and approved by IAF, and with a longer maintenance responsibility by France.
A Negotiating Team has been constituted to negotiate the terms and conditions of the procurement of 36 Rafale jets and recommend a draft agreement. The meetings of the Indian Negotiating team with the French side have commenced.
The RFP issued earlier for procurement of 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) has been withdrawn. In this multi-vendor procurement case, the Rafale aircraft met all the performance characteristics stipulated in the Request for Proposal (RFP) during the evaluation conducted by Indian Air Force.
The blueprints and science goals for the first Arab mission to Mars have been revealed for the first time. The Emirates Mars Mission probe, named “Hope”, will create mankind’s first integrated model of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
The unmanned probe will leave Earth in 2020 on a mission designed to complement the science work of other missions and fill important gaps in human knowledge. Its unique orbits and instruments produce entirely new types of data on Martian climate dynamics to be shared with the global science community.
“The Emirates Mars Mission will be a great contribution to human knowledge, a milestone for Arab civilisation, and a real investment for future generations. This probe represents hope for millions of young Arabs looking for a better future,” said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.
This data will enable scientists to build the first truly holistic models of the Martian atmosphere. Such models may help the global Mars science community to unlock more mysteries of the Red Planet, such as why its atmosphere has been decaying into space to the point that it is now too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface.
Salt domes of the UAE and Oman: probing eastern Arabia
Authors:
Thomas et al
Abstract:
The emergent salt domes of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been investigated in detail and examples from central Oman have been studied for comparison. The salt domes contain exotic clasts of igneous, sedimentary and low-grade metamorphic rocks of the Arabian basement that have been brought to the surface from depths of over 8 km. The clasts thus provide an opportunity to examine the lithology, geochemical composition and age of the “basement” underlying this part of eastern Arabia, where no other outcrops are available for direct study. Five volcanic rocks give consistent latest Ediacaran U-Pb zircon crystallisation dates of ca. 560 to 545 Ma, with Neoproterozoic, Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchaean ages of inherited zircons. These rocks, although strongly altered, preserve geochemical characteristics compatible with formation in a within-plate, extensional setting along the northern edge of Gondwana, adjacent to Prototethys. U-Pb analyses of detrital zircons in sedimentary and low-grade metamorphic rocks indicate deposition younger than ca. 597 Ma in UAE and less than 734 Ma in Oman. The two UAE sedimentary rocks may correlate with the Shuram and Khufai Formations of the Nafun Group (Huqf Supergroup) in Oman. Like the volcanic rocks, the two sedimentary samples from the UAE show derivation from the erosion of Neo-, Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchaean sources. These sources could be from the Arabian basement itself or from other basement blocks such as those embedded in present-day Iran and Afghanistan, the precise whereabouts of which in Neoproterozoic times remains somewhat uncertain. The zircon age spectra of samples from the UAE show Neoproterozoic age peak characteristics of sources from both the western and eastern Arabian basement blocks, indicating that the two segments were juxtaposed by about 597 Ma, the maximum age of their deposition.
Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were responsible for carrying out two series of air strikes in the past week on armed Islamist factions in Tripoli, Libya, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The officials said the two Arab countries used aircraft based in Egypt.
Earlier the New York Times reported that the two U.S. allies acted without consulting Washington, and that Egyptian officials told U.S. diplomats that Cairo was not involved. Egypt has denied conducting air strikes or other military operations in Libya.
Over the weekend, Tripoli residents said unidentified war planes attacked targets in the capital, as Libya is riven by the worst fighting since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. There were also strikes on Islamist-held positions last Monday.
“The UAE Mars probe represents the Islamic world’s entry into the era of space exploration,” said President Sheikh Khalifa, according to state news agency WAM.
“We will prove that we are capable of delivering new scientific contributions to humanity.
“We aim for the UAE to be among the top countries in the field of aerospace by 2021. We have a great belief in Allah and in the talents of our young people. We have the strongest determination, the greatest ambitions, and a clear plan to reach our targets.
“The UAE’s purpose is to build Emirati technical and intellectual capabilities in the fields of aerospace and space exploration and to enter the space industry and to make use of space technology in a way that enhances the country’s development plans.”
Imagine a city where the temperature is always perfect and you never have to worry about a rainy day ruining your day’s plans. Sound like fiction? If you live in Dubai, a city-state already known for ambitious feats of engineering, a mini-metropolis with a thermostat is poised to become a reality.
Officials in Dubai last week announced plans to build the world’s first climate-controlled city. Dubbed the Mall of the World, the 48 million-square-foot complex will feature 100 hotels and apartment buildings, the world’s largest indoor theme park and the world’s largest shopping mall.
For years, oil was the commodity that kept the United Arab Emirates’ economic engine running, but tourism is now one of the UAE’s largest sources of revenue. In a country where summertime temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, officials hope the Mall of the World will beat the heat and serve as a year-round tourist destination.
Saudi and Emirati pundits have quit major media outlets in Qatar, including the broadcaster of top-flight European football, they said on Sunday, as tensions soar between Doha and Gulf states.
In an unprecedented decision on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain withdrew their envoys to Qatar, which they accused of meddling in their internal affairs by supporting Islamists.
Doha has dismissed the charge, citing instead differences in regional politics.
The U.K., which has hoped to sell Eurofighter Typhoons to the UAE, has learned that any potential deal is at least on hold.
“The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time,” says a note to prime contractor BAE Systems’s investors. The U.K. had been negotiating with UAE for the sale of about 60 aircraft, with Prime Minister David Cameron traveling to the Dubai air show in the hopes of lobbying for BAE’s bid to sell the fighter jets.
In addition to the Typhoon, Dassault’s Rafale and Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet are contending for the UAE’s fighter contract. The news comes one day after Brazil announced it would purchase 36 Saab Gripens.
The move cannot be anything except bad news for Typhoon, which in the last two years has been defeated by the Rafale in India, the F-15 and then the F-35 in Korea, the F-35 in Japan and the Gripen in Switzerland. Typhoon is still a candidate in Qatar, which has increased its requirement to as many as 72 aircraft, and is in the running for a 30-aircraft order in Denmark (against Gripen, Super Hornet and F-35).
Whether the decision indicates that a UAE Rafale buy is close is unclear. According to French press reports, the country’s defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said on Dec. 18 — before the BAE announcement was made public — that there would be “results soon” concerning both a contract for Rafale in India and sales in the Gulf.
Reports that UAE is moving toward requesting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may be premature, however, because of political sensitivity and the power of Israel’s lobbyists in Washington. Earlier this year, the UAE was even denied the AGM-158 stealth cruise missile, a much lower-tech system than JSF, and was instead offered the AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response weapon.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) unmanned system developer Adcom used the 2013 Dubai Airshow to unveil the Global Yabhon, which at 10 tonnes is its largest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Adcom has ambitions for the Global Yabhon to rival the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAV, while industry sources note it may rival or complement the Boeing P-8 Poseidon manned multimission maritime patrol aircraft.
While the Global Yabhon was displayed as a full-size mockup at the show, Adcom Chief Designer Ali Al Dhaheri told IHS Jane's that a "fully equipped" and tested version would be ready for delivery in six months. Al Dhaheri said that development was possible because Adcom had the support of a customer.
In July 2013 Russian reports indicated that the Russian Ministry of Defence was interested in purchasing two United-40 UAVs, a platform revealed in 2011 that was Adcom's first high-stability tandem bi-wing UAV and which formed the basis for the larger Global Yabhon.
Both designs make extensive use of carbon fibre composites to reduce overall weight: the 26 m-wingspan Global Yabon has an empty weight of about 3.5 tons. Its maximum payload is 6.5 tons and has rear-wing and fuselage pylon attachments for up to18 weapons. Payloads include Adcom's small Namrod precision-guided and small turbojet-powered bomb, and up to four of the larger 240 km-range Yabhon Thunder cruise missile.
The Global Yabhon has a high altitude endurance of 40 hours and can be powered by two small turbofan or reciprocating engines. Al Dhaheri mentioned that a "GE Honda" turbofan was under consideration, possibly the 400 lb HF120 small turbofan.
Also on display for the first time at the Dubai Airshow was a maritime patrol/anti submarine UCAV version of the United 40, called "U-40, Navy-UAV." This UCAV version is equipped to carry 24 sonobuoys, and both it and the Global Yabhon were displayed with torpedo mockups.
Al Dhaheri added that customer demand had driven Adcom's emphasis on maritime UAVs at the Dubai show. He also noted that Adcom was developing an air-launched torpedo for the U-40 and Global Yabhon.
