Israel will sell an advanced aerial defense system to the United Arab Emirates, according to a report Friday by Reuters quoting two sources “familiar with the matter.”
The deal, agreed upon this past summer, involves the sale of SPYDER mobile interceptors manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It’s not clear when the system will be delivered to the UAE.
SYPDER systems guard against aircraft, helicopters, bombers, UAV,s UCAVs, PGMs, cruise missiles and stand-off weapons, according to Rafael.
Israel and the UAE, both strong allies of the United States, share concerns over Iran’s race to achieve a nuclear weapon, among other other threats it presents to the region.
This past March, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt gathered in Israel for the first Negev Summit, hosted by Israel’s then-foreign minister Yair Lapid in Sde Boker, to discuss ways to address their shared challenges, including those from Iran.
In June, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Knesset lawmakers that Israel and the US spent the past year working to strengthen cooperation between the Jewish State and other countries in the region “under American leadership and CENTCOM.” Part of the initiative, he said, was “Middle East Air Defense, which we are building amid Iran’s attempts to hit the region’s countries with rockets, cruise missiles and UAVs.”
