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 boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

s 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 Maritime geography is a collection of terms used by naval military units to loosely define three maritime regions: brown water, green water, and blue water. Definitions The elements of maritime geography are loosely defined and their meanings hav ...

corvettes in conjunction with French shipbuilder CMN. The UAE maintains a small battalion-sized marine force called the UAE Marines equipped with BMP-3 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 Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

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 F ...

. 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 ...

' in the

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 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 (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

(subsequently merged with the UAE Presidential Guard). 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 HSV-2 ''Swift'' is a hybrid catamaran. She was privately owned and operated by Sealift Inc., and was originally built under the JHSV program as a proof of concept. As part of this program, she was directly leased for evaluation from her build ...

- 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, including reportedly in support of

amphibious operations Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...

. 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.

References

{{Asia topic, Navy of, title=Navies of Asia