UAE Poised to Lead Arabian Peninsula in Missile Defense, says MDAA
Industry: Non Profit & Charity
It is essential for the United States, the UAE, and the GCC to pursue a common, long-term strategy to build out the region's missile defenses.
Washington D.C. (PRUnderground) October 23rd, 2014
A “Phased Adaptive Approach” in the Arabian Gulf “would be much more capable and less costly for the United States than the current program in Europe, since all of the GCC countries are already acquiring air and missile defense systems and contributing heavily to the overall architecture.” said Mr. Ellison.
The MDAA Chairman said that enhancing missile defenses in partnership capacity with UAE and the GCC countries is a more reliable solution to deal with the threat of Iranian nuclear breakout than the current negotiations led by the Obama Administration.
“With or without an agreement in place, Iran would still likely retain a nuclear breakout capability, which would lead to strategic imbalance that could ignite a nuclear arms race in the region.” said Mr. Ellison, referring to the Obama Administration’s efforts to get a deal with Iran to slow down its nuclear development in exchange for easing sanctions.
“Based on past experience, any agreement would at most slow down Iran’s development, but not ultimately prevent Iran from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons. It is just too strategically risky for any of the six GCC countries or the United States to rely on such agreements with Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation and to defend their populations and territories.” Ellison added.
More diplomatic and military work between the United States and the GCC needs to be done to implement a robust GCC missile defense system. In particular, Ellison emphasized the need for better integration between UAE and U.S missile defense forces to enhance efficiency and minimize the risk of friendly fire.
Enabling the UAE with a U.S. Link-16 military data exchange network similar to NATO would facilitate this interoperability. Mr. Ellison noted that the Link 16 can be “configured bilaterally to minimize the risk of U.S. Link 16 networks being compromised.”
“The UAE is the country most receptive and most able to begin this partnership of interoperability.” Ellison added. The UAE currently employs nine Patriot Advanced Capability-3 batteries, along with two cutting-edge Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Batteries.
For Mr. Ellison’s full statement, follow this link.
Riki Ellison is available for interviews. To schedule, please contact Ian Williams at iwilliams@missiledefenseadvocacy.org or call 703-299-0060.
About Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
MDAA’s mission is to make the world safer by advocating for the development and deployment of missile defense systems to defend the United States, its armed forces and its allies against missile threats.We are a non-partisan membership-based and membership-funded organization that does not advocate on behalf of any specific system, technology, architecture or entity.
