Mideast Conflicts Fuel Land Force Developments
The March 2015 coalition of 10 Arab states against the Houthis in Yemen has
provided extensive experience for gulf Arab troops involved, analysts
agreed.
By AWAD MUSTAFA 3:53 p.m. EDT October 10, 2015
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/land/weapons/2015/10/10/mideast-conflicts-fuel-land-force-developments/73525880/

DUBAI — Transnational threats and the conflict in Yemen have spurred land
force developments across the Middle East, especially in the last nine
months.

Countries in the region are expected to spend US $344 million by 2016 on
guided munitions alone and are also driving the armored vehicle market along
with Asia, according to Texas-based research and consultancy Markets and
Markets.

The two lead countries in the fight for Yemen -- Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates -- are leading the surge in purchases. Iraq is also acquiring
new and used equipment from its partners and allies in its fight against the
Islamic State terror group, or ISIL.

Sources have stated that the Iraqi Defense Ministry has tendered to buy 500
four-wheel-drive military vehicles this year to make up for the losses
against the Islamic State group.

Since the beginning of operations against ISIL, Iraq has petitioned the
United States to buy 1,000 M1151A1 up-armored Humvees, 1,000 M2 .50 caliber
machine guns, 1,000 MK-19 40mm grenade launchers, commercial radios,
communication equipment and spare parts and training estimated at $579
million, according to the US Defense and Security Cooperation Agency.

Iraq also requested the sale of 175 M1A1 Abrams tanks with the upgraded
120mm gun, 15 M88A2 improved tank recovery vehicles and 175 .50 caliber M2
machine guns.

Within the last year, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have introduced
mandatory military service to increase readiness and manpower.

Operations in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia, which include the UAE, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan, have resulted in many
casualties for the land forces that have been deployed since July.
Approximately 10,000 men have been deployed recently in addition to the
initial 4,000 that were involved in the operations to retake the southern
port city of Aden.

Although each Arab gulf state in the GCC pursues its own approach to
developing land forces, the nominal effort to create a gulf rapid reaction
force is very limited and of uncertain effectiveness, according to Anthony
Cordesman, Arleigh Burke Chair at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies.

"Saudi Arabia has the largest ground force in the Arab gulf forces, and they
are equipped with modern and highly capable weapons. Its land forces is
expanding and estimates of its size differ," Cordesman stated in his report,
"The Arab-U.S. Strategic Partnership and the Changing Security Balance in
the Gulf."

Though they have not had major combat experience in recent years other than
in the first gulf war in 1991, the Saudi forces have fought in various small
counterterrorism actions since 2003 and have been sporadically engaged on
the Yemeni border since 2009, he added.

The March 2015 coalition of 10 Arab states against the Houthis in Yemen has
provided extensive experience for gulf Arab troops involved, analysts
agreed.

"This coalition has allowed the Saudi Arabian military to improve and manage
its command-and-control system," said Nawaf Obaid, a Saudi expert at the
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

According to the armored vehicle market analysis, wheeled vehicle
acquisition is clearly on the rise as more governments look at six- and
eight-wheel-drive vehicles to cope with the terrain, and because of their
lower maintenance costs.

At the beginning of operations in July, a coalition official told Defense
News that Saudi Arabia has deployed 45 mine-resistant, ambush-protected
Oshkosh M-ATVs, while the United Arab Emirates has deployed 50 Emirati-made
Nimr four-wheel-drive multipurpose armored vehicles as well as 25
Emirati-made Enigma eight-wheel-drive infantry fighting vehicles.

This is the first deployment of the 8x8 Enigma as the vehicle was first
unveiled at the Abu Dhabi International Defence Exhibition in February.

The vehicle, produced by Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Defense Technology, was
set to undergo trials this summer with the UAE armed forces, company CEO
Mohamed al-Suwaidi told Defense News during IDEX 2015.

More recently, Nimr proprietor Emirates Defence Industries Corporation
unveiled new vehicles in September. The N35 Multi-Role Protected Vehicle
with 4x4 and 6x6 wheeled armored variations were based on designs from South
African Denel Vehicle Systems' RG35, which is under full ownership of NIMR.

"The 4x4 and 6x6 variants complement our existing range, allowing NIMR to
expand beyond our traditional light-medium weight vehicle category into the
more highly protected, higher payload categories," said Nimr CEO Fahad Saif
Harhara at the time of launch.

No information has been provided on the vehicles' field deployment in Yemen.

Email: amustafa@defensenews.com