The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven sheikdoms--or emirates--which was known as the Trucial States when the region was under British administration. In January 1968, after the British government announced that its forces would be withdrawn from the Persian Gulf by the end of 1971, Trucial Oman and the sheikhdoms of Qatar and Bahrain initiated plans to confederate. However, Qatar and Bahrain decided on independent sovereign status. The former Trucial States, excluding Ra's al-Khaymah, announced the formation of the United Arab Emirates in December 1971. Ra's al-Khaymah joined the federation in February 1972. Abu Dhabi and Qatar are the two strongest members of the federation. Since independence, the oil of the Persian Gulf has made the UAE one of the wealthiest nations in the world.
The Khomeini regime in Iran and the Iran-Iraq War created significant danger for the UAE. In addition, there are long-running territorial disputes with Iran over the status of several islands in the Gulf. The intensity of such threats moved the UAE to join with Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait to form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981. The UAE joined Saudi Arabia and the other GCC states in condemning Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. It provided facilities for Western military forces and contributed troops for the liberation of Kuwait in early 1991, and has become an important US ally in the Gulf.
Beginning in 1994, the UAE was the site of one of the most hotly-contested fighter contract competitions in recent years. In that year, the UAE announced a requirement for 80 modern fighter aircraft. The two major competitors for the contract were the Dassault Rafale and advanced versions of the F-16 Fighting Falcon known loosely as "Block 60". On May 12, 1998, the government of Abu Dhabi announced that it had selected the Block 60 F-16C/D with conformal upper-fuselage fuel tanks to replace the air force's remaining Mirage 5s. It was not certain at that time whether the UAE would choose the General Electric F110-GE-129 or the Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-229A. The aircraft would be equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-68 fire-control radar with an electronically-scanned agile beam and would be provided with an integrated IRST system and laser designator. The UAE order would extend the F-16 order backlog well past 2005, and the selection of the Block 60 would make the plane much more attractive to customers such Greece, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.
However, the whole deal was stalled for a couple of years over questions about release of the source code for the Northrop Grumman radar and for the electronics warfare suite. In addition, there were some financial details that had to be worked out before the deal became final. There was some concern in Washington that if the deal were allowed to go through, it would give the UAE an F-16 variant with capabilities superior to those of USAF F-16s. There was always the possibility that the entire deal could fall through at any time, placing the entire Block 60 F-16 project in jeopardy.
However, on March 5, 2000, the UAE signed contracts for the purchase of 155 single-seat and 25 two-seat Block 60 F-16s. These planes would be named Desert Falcon. The problem over the release of the source has apparently been overcome, although it turned out that the UAE only wanted the ability to re-program the electronic warfare suite and did not actually want the source code itself. On March 14, it was announced that the powerplant would be the General Electric F110-GE-132 rated at 32,000 lb.s.t. Deliveries will take place between 2004 and 2007.
Since the delivery schedule for the Block 60 F-16s is now two years later than that originally planned, the UAE is interested in acquiring 20 surplus Dutch F-16A/Bs. They would go through the MLU process before delivery and would be used for training until the Block 60 F-16s are delivered. The former Dutch machines could be delivered by the end of 2002.
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- Air Forces Monthly, May 2000.
