The United Arab Emirates Navy is the
naval branch of the
United Arab Emirates Armed Forces
The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa li-Dawlat al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyyah al-Muttaḥidah) are the armed forces of the Unit ...
. It is small force of about 3,000 personnel. It maintains 12 well-equipped coastal
patrol boats and eight
missile boat
A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They a ...
s.
Although primarily concerned with coastal defense, the Navy is constructing a six-unit class of
blue water corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
s in conjunction with French shipbuilder
CMN.
The UAE maintains a small battalion-sized
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
force called the UAE Marines equipped with
BMP-3
The BMP-3 is a Soviet and Russian infantry fighting vehicle, successor to the BMP-1 and BMP-2. The abbreviation BMP stands for ''boevaya mashina pehoty'' (, literally "infantry combat vehicle").
Production history
The design of the BMP-3 ('' O ...
armoured personnel carriers.
Swedish shipbuilder Swede Ship Marine have built four 24 m Amphibious Troop Transport Vessel and one 25 m Fast Supply Vessel for the UAE Navy (delivered between 2003 and 2005).
Three additional vessels are being built by Swede Ship Marine for the UAE Navy (see
Future Navy
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
).
History
The origins of the UAE Navy begin with the Abu Dhabi Defence Force (ADDF) which established a Sea Wing in 1967. The initial fleet gave Abu Dhabi a limited brown-water patrolling and protecting capability in the waters of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
and in the littoral region of the Northern Emirates in the Gulf of Oman. This included protection of the UAE's significant offshore oil and gas facilities.
With the formation of the United Arab Emirates on 2 December 1971 and the unification of the UAE Armed Forces on 6 May 1976, the ADDF Sea Wing became the UAE Navy and continued to expand with naval facilities at Abu Dhabi port in 1975 as well as other facilities at the far west of Abu Dhabi Emirate and on the eastern coast of Fujairah at
Khor Fakkan
Khor Fakkan ( ar, خَوْر فَكَّان, Khawr Fakkān) is a city and exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), facing the Gulf of Oman, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fuja ...
.
The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and especially the 1986 '
tanker war
The Tanker War was a protracted series of armed skirmishes between Iran and Iraq against merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz from 1984 to 1988. The conflict was a part of the larger Iran–Iraq War.
Background
Prior to 1 ...
' in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
culminated in the 25 November 1986 attack of Abu Dhabi's Abu Al Bukhoosh offshore oil platforms by Iranian aircraft. These incidents led to further expansion of the UAE's Navy assets in this period.
The 1990s and 2000s saw further consolidation. In 2001, the
UAE Coast Guard, which had been under the control of the UAE Ministry of Interior since 1976, was transferred to the control of the Navy. This change was likely in response to increased concern over the possibility of terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure in the UAE's littoral zone and on its islands in the post-
9/11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
world, and the effectiveness of the Coast Guard in countering this threat. Another change in the Navy's force structure in the 2000's was the expansion of its amphibious capability and the formation of the
UAE Navy Marines
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
(subsequently merged with the
UAE Presidential Guard
The UAE Presidential Guard (UAE-PG) ( ar, حرس الرئاسة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة) is an elite military special operations unit of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. It is a military unit that operates o ...
).
Since 2015, the UAE Navy has been operating in the Yemen region in response to the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
there.
Equipment
Vessels
Leased
*
HSV-2 Swift - Sub-
leased
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
or transferred from the UAE's ''National Marine Dredging Company'' sometime early in 2015. Used for
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
and related activities as part of the ongoing
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Saudi may refer to:
* Saudi Arabia
* Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia
* Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia
* House of Saud
The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
, including reportedly in
support
Support may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Supporting character
Business and finance
* Support (technical analysis)
* Child support
* Customer support
* Income Support
Construction
* Support (structure), or lateral support, a ...
of
amphibious operations. This ship was directly hit by a Houthi missile attack and severely damaged during operations in October 2016.
Future Navy
Till 2014 will be commissioned 12 Ghannatha Phase II class fast missile landing crafts. First unit was be launched in July 2012.
Other 12 will be upgraded from Ghannatha Phase I class
4
Falaj 2 class patrol vessel (based on the Italian Diciotti class) on order, 2 being fitted out - 550 tons - 4 MM-40 Exocets - 6 Mica VL SAM (2 more to be produced with 2 more in the future, grand total 8)
One 26 m Offshore Patrol Vessel, one 24 m Amphibious Troop Transport Vessel and one 24 m Patrol Vessel is under construction for the UAE Navy.
See also
*
UAE Armed Forces
The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa li-Dawlat al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyyah al-Muttaḥidah) are the armed forces of the Unit ...
Further reading
The Evolution of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emiratesby Athol Yates
The Military and Police Forces of the Gulf States - Volume 1: Trucial States and United Arab Emirates, 1951-1980by Athol Yates & Cliff Lord
The Naval Forces of Abu Dhabi 1967-1976by Athol Yates & Cliff Lord
References
{{Asia topic, Navy of, title=Navies of Asia