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Russian firm eyes options in Middle East for ‘joint production’ of tech, including 5th-gen fighters
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Russian defense companies aren't officially listed as participating in the Abu Dhabi-based IDEX 2023 expo but will be in a "separate pavilion."
By Agnes Helou on February 20, 2023 at 12:10 AM
A prototype of Russia’s Su-75 Checkmate fighter jet at the Dubai air show 2021. (Chyrine Mezher)
IDEX 2023 — As the war in Ukraine nears its first anniversary, Russian defense firms plan to showcase their wares at the IDEX 2023 expo in the United Arab Emirates, hoping to lure Gulf nations as customers, or establish joint production of high-tech platforms, including fighter jets.
“Today we are actively working on proposals for the most relevant forms of partnership with the Middle East states, primarily related to technology transfer, joint development and offset programs,” Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev in a press release reported by the Russian TASS news service on Feb. 16. “Rosoboronexport is considering various options for the joint creation of modern high-tech products, including a fifth-generation fighter based on the Checkmate light tactical aircraft, further work on the development and production of air defense systems, equipment for the Navy, and weapons for the ground forces.”
Literature for IDEX 2023 doesn’t show Russia or Russian firms as exhibitors, but the release said a “joint Russian exposition at IDEX 2023 will be located in a separate pavilion. where Rosoboronexport and defense-industrial complex enterprises will present the latest high-tech military products for all branches of the armed forces.
In the statement, Mikheyev said he considered Middle East nations to be Russia’s traditional partners and highlighted some of the work Rosoboronexport has done in the region.
As for the Checkmate, Russia’s answer to America’s fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 and the F-35, the plane made its international debut at the Dubai Airshow 2021 also in the UAE. At the time a company official reportedly said that it was in talks with three Emirati entities, Tawazun Economic Council, Mubadala Investment Company and EDGE Group, about the production of composite materials and telecommunications technology for this aircraft in particular. But since then, no news has come of any potential agreements.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute, said IDEX 2023 will be an interesting test for the interest in Russian wares, after the Russian military’s problems in Ukraine.
“The poor performance of many of Russia’s defense systems in the war in Ukraine has dented international confidence in Russia as an arms supplier,” he said. “Participation in IDEX may be a way to try and regain some of the momentum that has been lost over the past year, especially to regional markets in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, which have also been the focus of Russian commercial and diplomatic activity in recent months.”
He added that Russia would probably want to attract customers in the Gulf and to regain confidence as a supplier of arms. From the Gulf states’ perspective, it may be that frustration with the US over lack of access to latest-development aircraft such as the F-35 or other cutting-edge electronic warfare products could prompt renewed interest in Russian alternatives.
“Years of US and other international sanctions on Russian entities have not stopped countries around the world, including close US political and security partners in the Gulf, from continuing to engage with Russian companies, including state-owned and sanctioned entities,” Ulrichsen said.
There’s also frustration in Gulf capitals, Ulrichsen said, over some restrictions placed on them by Washington, including based on concern over Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s previous involvement in the conflict in Yemen.
“Political and defense officials in the Gulf may also anticipate that by making it clear to the US that they have alternative options, they may try and exert leverage on US policymakers to drop some of the restrictions and take action to facilitate the approval of arms sales to the Gulf, out of concern that they could be losing the region to adversarial states such as Russia or China,” he concluded.
Whatever the outcome of the Russian pitch, IDEX 2023 is sure to be an interesting one with US, European and Russian defense systems standing (relatively) beside one another on the show floor here, while the systems take each other on for real in Ukraine.
EDGE Group CEO talks acquisitions, Chinese and Russian cooperation and autonomous systems
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The conglomerate’s CEO and managing director, Mansour AlMulla, sat down on day one of IDEX to explain his corporate strategy in an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense.
By Agnes Helou on February 21, 2023 at 12:20 AM
An uncrewed vehicle is seen at the EDGE stand during IDEX 2023. (Agnes Helou/Breaking Defense)
IDEX 2023 — Inaugurated in 2019, EDGE Group has prioritized increasing local production of defense systems from outside companies, taking their intellectual property and producing articles in the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, the company is developing its own defense articles, including autonomous systems — raising questions about whether it is essentially creating competition for its own products against itself.
The conglomerate’s CEO and managing director, Mansour AlMulla, sat down on day one of IDEX to explain his corporate strategy in an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense. He talked about whether the Emirati firm will be a part of Russia’s Su-75 Checkmate program, its willingness to cooperate with Chinese and Russian firms as well as the company’s focus for the near future.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
BREAKING DEFENSE: What are the main focal point for Edge group? And why is heavy concentration on autonomous systems?
MANSOUR ALMULLA: We’re looking at modern warfare in a different way than how you used to look at it. Electronic warfare and autonomous systems are becoming more, kind of, competitive when it comes to modern warfare, [and] our focus from day one has been on technologically advanced systems as opposed to conventional ones.
The niche we want to be a part of is autonomous systems, electronic warfare and smart weapons. These are predominantly our [focus areas]. These are very important because they bring additional advantage when it comes to these solutions and providing [an] upper hand in the modern [age]. We are trying to advance those capabilities as such, and we have come a long way. We’ve seen advancements in the number of offering products — you know, we started off with about 10-15 products and today we are talking about 110 products. Some of them are in development, some of them are already produced in huge numbers.
We have many drones including hunter swarming drones, and now it’s more about making them smarter. So, the swarming capabilities and artificial intelligence machine learning are part of what we want to introduce with time. We are making good progress when it comes to these capabilities.
We’ve noticed lately, Edge has been heavily investing in western firms like Milrem Robotics and other firms. What’s the logic behind this step? And how do you plan to merge these entities into EDGE?
These are very exciting opportunities that we recently announced. So the investment in Milrem covers a couple of RCVs — robotic combat vehicles or remote control vehicles — as well and we are very excited about these because these are capabilities that can be modular, so we can implement it in different cases [for] land, sea or air. They try to onboard some of these capabilities into other products that we currently have. And at the same time benefit from the great strides they already have created over the last few years.
If there are players that are available to tie up, to join forces with and accelerate our timetable, we go for it. We are looking at different investments, we are looking at different targets and we’ll continue to kind of look at them. We’re not going to [be] very aggressive in terms of acquisitions, but we will be looking at those very kind of “sweet spots” when it comes to supporting our development program.
Does edge have any plans to invest in Chinese or Russian firms?
In terms of buying, we’re country agnostic, we don’t have tags on specific countries. Today we have excellent relationships with a lot of partners in China, Russia, and with the different countries. We cooperate with big players such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, MBDA and others.
And we have great relationships with a lot of players and we’ll continue to look at that, but we’re not going to go make a selection based on the country or tag.
Rosobornexport’s CEO said that the firm is offering Joint Production of its fifth-generation fighter jet, the Su-75 Checkmate, with Middle East countries. Are you interested in this cooperation? And is Edge already in negotiations with Rosobornexport?
When it comes to building fighter jets, if there are ways to cooperate on sub-systems, like reconnaissance ISR and others, we definitely look at [partnerships]. From our perspective, I am not familiar with the details of the program, but we’re more than open to work with our partners. We are not yet in negotiations with Rosobornexport for the Checkmate co-production.
What is your next five-year plan?
We’re looking at deliveries. In the last three years we have managed to secure good contracts, [and] our focus at this stage is the delivery and fulfilment of these projects. We are also working on accelerating our development programs. Continuously looking at new opportunities and all competing opportunities, and [we will] dial-up/dial-down based on what is out there and what the market is in pursuit of. We will also of course look at growing our financials. Top line/bottom line over the next five years, I think we are set for a good five years to come.
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