April 11, 2019
By Leone Hadavi
This project, divided into two parts, originated from an open source collection of photographic/video material I acquired for an investigation into the identification and tracking of the UAE Army’s BMP-3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) and Leclerc Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) operating in Yemen. This article will focus on vehicles of the first type. This effort…
December 16, 2018
Italy’s arms industry is growing, and the country has already been one of the world’s biggest arms exporters for years. Since 1990, thousands of arms exports licences have been granted, with some of the biggest customers being Algeria, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. The European Union (EU) has safeguards in place to prevent weapons…
October 10, 2018
The UAE has added eight new aircraft shelters and a weapon storage area to a reserve airfield on the coast, commercial satellite imagery shows. The activity suggests that the UAE may maintain a detachment at the reserve airfield to rapidly respond to potential threats. Assets routinely deployed at al-Hamra include the AH-64 Apache and the…
August 9, 2018
By Nick Waters
On Thursday, 2nd August several explosions rocked the Houthi-held city of Hodeidah. The locations of these explosions were reported to be the harbour used for fishing boats and within the vicinity of the al-Thawra Hospital. Since the explosion near the hospital happened immediately after the explosion at the harbour, it appeared that casualties and first responders were being deliberately targeted. Scores of people were killed and wounded in the attack.
January 30, 2017
Satellite imagery shows that the UAE Air Force and Air Defence has deployed the AN/TPY-2 radar along with its THAAD battery operating near the coast. The UAE operationally deployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system for the first time in 2016, a review of satellite imagery suggests. The U.S.-built system was co-located at…
January 25, 2017
A recent review of satellite imagery shows that UAE forces may be pulling their surface to air missile systems out from key deployment locations within Yemen. Left: DigitalGlobe imagery of the Patriot site in Aden dated 08OCT16 / Right: 24OCT16 Satellite imagery confirms that UAE Patriots departed from at least two of their three known deployment locations within…
October 29, 2015
Transparency International’s Government Defence Index is a unique resource that collects evidence and insights on malpractice in the defence and security sector, worldwide. The most recent version was released today. As the majority of the research for this project involved gathering openly accessible information online (with a very limited part of the evidence coming from closed sources),…
October 1, 2015
Satellite imagery shows that the UAE has been busy in the lead up to the Iranian nuclear deal establishing new Patriot surface-to-air missile sites. And apparently, its armed forces have taken a page from the U.S. and deployed the system with its troops conducting operations in Yemen. Long considered a valuable U.S. ally in the region,…
August 31, 2015
Over the last decade, the UAE has improved its transport capabilities with the acquisition of some of America’s best strategic and tactical aircraft. The latest satellite imagery acquired by DigitalGlobe shows a new operational military ramp dedicated to the country’s transport aircraft located on the north-eastern side of Abu Dhabi International. The Directorate of Military…
March 26, 2015
DigitalGlobe imagery from November 2014 shows ADCOM’s United 40 Block 5 UAV at the company’s test airstrip located south of Al Dhafra Airbase. When the US denied the sale of armed Predator drones to fulfill UAE Air Force requirements in 2002, the Gulf country set out to fill the gap by developing its own medium…
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