BEIRUT — With indigenous missile production in mind, European missile producer giant MBDA has opened a Missile Engineering Center in Abu Dhabi, the first of its kind outside Europe, the firm announced today.
The center will be operated by a joint team of engineers from Tawazun Technology Innovation and MBDA to codevelop the “next generation of Smart Weapons family,” according to a statement by the firm. It’s an announcement which analysts say could greatly boost the UAE’s domestic missile production capabilities, as well as its technical know-how.
“Opening a missile engineering center in the UAE is precisely the sort of partnership which Emirati leaders seek in terms of developing and deepening long-term links which can contribute to localization of research, job creation, and technology transfer, all in support of strategic economic diversification,” Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute, told Breaking Defense.
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