The UAE And The Purchase Of The THAAD Anti-Missile Systems

Roving Sands THAAD Launcher

Checkmate On Iran -- Strategy Page

September 10, 2008: The UAE (United Arab Emirates) wants to buy $7 billion worth of American THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile systems to protect itself against the growing arsenal of Iranian ballistic missiles. The UAE is a confederation of small Arab states at the southern end of the Persian Gulf. With a population of only 5.5 million, and large oil and gas deposits, the emirates have a per-capita income of $43,000. Thus the UAE has a lot to defend, and an increasingly belligerent neighbor just across the Gulf. The UAE controls one side the entrance to the Gulf (the Straits of Hormuz). Iran is on the other end, and both nations dispute ownership of some islands in the middle.

The U.S. has agreed to the sale, even though the U.S. Army just formed the first of four THAD anti-ballistic missile (ABM) batteries earlier this year. This unit will be ready for combat in two years, using the THAAD missile. The other three batteries will be in service within five years. Twenty months ago, there was a successful test of THAAD (a SCUD type target was destroyed in flight) using a crew of soldiers for the first time, and not manufacturer technicians, to operate the system.

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My Comment: One of many more purchases for the Middle East.