French defence and technology group Thales plans to produce radar antennas in the UAE this year for domestic sales and export to global markets, as the UAE seeks more local manufacturing contracts and technical know-how transfers in its deals with international defence suppliers.
The company's wholly-owned unit Thales Emarat Technologies aims to double its workforce this year to 340 people, with 30 per cent of the new hires to be Emiratis, Pascale Sourisse, senior executive vice-president of international development at Thales, told The National in an interview on the sidelines of Idex 2025 in Abu Dhabi. That is up from the current Emiratisation rate of 20 per cent. Thales is also working with local universities to source Emirati talent, mainly engineers, for high-tech jobs.
The radar factory project, first announced in 2021, is “targeted towards the needs of the UAE but also to make sure that this radar competence centre will be included in Thales' global network of competence centres and it will produce radar antennas that we plan to definitely also sell to non-UAE customers”, Ms Sourisse said.
“We are not limiting the market potential only to the region. Thales markets radars all over the world and this UAE competence centre will be used in the Thales global supply chain … our hope is to start producing elements in the year to come and start having the capacity to contribute to some programmes.”
The company plans to capitalise on the UAE's strategic position as an export hub to its customers around the world so that it can maintain “sustainable and competitive” operations and guarantee continuing work loads that will not be impacted by the length of its programmes in the UAE, Ms Sourisse said.
Building 'in-country value'
The move comes as the UAE pushes to develop its own military production capabilities to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers. The strategy is intended to diversify its economy from the oil sector, create more jobs for its citizens, attract highly-skilled workers and become part of the global industrial supply chains.
“It's essential to build capabilities in-country and to give the UAE the possibility to really master the systems that they are going to use in the future, so we are constantly interacting with the UAE Armed Forces and authorities to support them in this direction and working a lot on the questions of sovereignty and localising competencies in-country,” Ms Sourisse said.
Europe's largest defence technology company specialises in aerospace, satellites, cyber security and digital security. Thales Emarat Technologies works in three main areas of radar technology, digital services such as radio communications and defence.
“We plan to grow all these activities and we are actually quite optimistic and positive on the discussions we've had with the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces that they are counting on us to grow the competencies and capabilities here in the UAE in all these three spheres,” Ms Sourisse said. "Each time they acquire a solution, they want Thales to commit to not only local production, but also to rely on local teams to service and maintain the installed base."
AI and defence systems
The company sees a “great opportunity” to strengthen its activities in the UAE with artificial intelligence-embedded defence equipment and training Emiratis for its use, Ms Sourisse said.
“AI will be using data that is coming from our military users and this data is very sensitive and sometimes, it is classified. It therefore makes sense to ensure that the work in AI can be performed by Emirati citizens,” she said.
“We are definitely planning on developing competencies in AI to be embedded in the systems we supply to the UAE and to have competencies in the UAE.”
Since AI must be trained based on data from the users and since the UAE is emphasising creation of jobs for citizens, Thales is seeking to hire and train Emirati engineers for such jobs, she said.
Thales has more than 600 experts globally working on AI in mission-critical systems and expects that number to grow “tremendously” in the future, she said.
Thales, which says it is among the top five globally for cyber security, identified the intensification of geopolitical conflicts, the implementation of AI and growing digital reliance as the main challenges this year facing sectors such as energy, finance and transport, in its January report on cyber security.
“We are offering mission-critical systems to our customers, so they need to be cyber secure … our systems embed more and more AI. And AI is not only a question for the future, we area already working on it … we are developing AI solutions for critical missions, so security and lives are at stake,” Ms Sourisse said. “This kind of AI needs to be trustable and transparent.”
AI is embedded in more than 100 of Thales' products, such as radars and the reconnaissance pods below an aircraft, she added. Use of AI in defence systems raises two risks including the threat of hacking and therefore must be cyber-secured, and it must also be certified for safety as lives are at stake, she said.
Rising European defence spending
Political tension in Europe, arising from Russia-Ukraine war and Washington's push for European countries to spend more on protecting themselves is set to boost growth for defence manufacturers, according to some companies such as Swedish conglomerate Saab.
Thales is tracking a similar trend and plans to increase its spending on new products in response to growing market requirements.
“Yes, we are expecting a higher level of demand from a number of customers, certainly in Europe, but our defence markets are growing pretty much everywhere in the world and we plan to see additional investments in developing new solutions,” Ms Sourisse said.
Thales is spending 20 per cent of its annual revenue on research and development (R&D), she said. With annual sales revenue of €20 billion ($20.9 billion), this translates into €4 billion of investment into R&D.
“We see that growing in the future, we plan to reach about €5 billion on investment in R&D by 2028 globally,” she said.
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Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
ELIO
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Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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