UAE OBTAINS RUSSIAN AIR DEFENSE BATTERIES

MOSCOW [MENL] — The United Arab Emirates has received the first delivery of Russian-origin air defense systems.

The UAE military has received the first batch of Pantsir-S1 air defense systems from Russia. Russian industry sources said the self-propelled air defense systems arrived in the emirates over the last few weeks and deliveries would continue through 2005.

In 2000, the UAE ordered 96K6 Pantsir-S1 air defense systems from Russia’s KBP Instrument Design Bureau. The was the first UAE order of the Pantsir, coming after deliveries of the Soviet-origin SA-7, SA-14 and SA-16 short-range surface-to-air missiles to Abu Dhabi.

The sources said Pantsir would be installed on Russian-origin 8×8 armored combat vehicles. They said the Pantsir order was implemented after the UAE financed the completion of development. The Pantsir was never procured by the Russian Army and development was suspended in the late 1990s for lack of funds.