ABU DHABI // Drones are big business. If confirmation is needed, no fewer than 89 companies will be exhibiting their version of the unmanned aerial vehicle at the International Defence Exhibition (Idex) in Abu Dhabi next week. This should come as no surprise. If there is one symbol of the changing face of modern warfare, it is the drone.
The US military's Predators patrol the skies of Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan in increasing numbers. Attacks by the unmanned planes have spiked recently as they target the Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan. So successful has been their usage, there are now hundreds of Predator knock-offs. The Chinese and Russian versions, in particular, bear a striking resemblance to the original. Drones have become a key cog in an increasingly digitised battlefield.
COIN, CT, C4ISR: these terms have come to define what many are calling the fourth, or even fifth, generation of warfare. They may mean nothing to the layman, but counter-insurgency; counter-terrorism; and the tongue-twisting command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance mean big bucks for the companies appearing at the 10th Idex.
That's lucky for the industry. The market is shrinking for new jets, tanks and ships, which are the traditional bread and butter of the defence sector. With budgets for the world's largest militaries shrinking, many of the biggest firms have seen orders for their latest high-tech kit reduced or cancelled altogether. They can partly thank the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for that.
In both wars, a ragtag group of militants armed with ageing or improvised weaponry stood successfully against the most powerful military force in the world. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of bombs and hi-tech weaponry that kill faster and more efficiently than ever before have not won either war.
The vast majority of successes that coalition forces have had in either country has not come through force of arms, but through superior intelligence. The king of the Afghanistan war is the unmanned aerial vehicle, colloquially known as the drone. These oversized robotic birds of prey hover high above the battlefield sending real-time video feed to military staff half a world away who can then deploy attack drones with the click of a joystick.
The high-tech revolution extends to the soldiers on the ground as well as to their weapons. Soldiers, weaponry and intelligence are now networked via satellite connections, allowing commanders to track soldiers' movements and assign targets. Troops needing to know what's over the next hill or behind a wall need not put themselves in harm's way, but can simply have the information beamed to a handheld device.
Even mobile-phone networks are exploited to track the movements and conversations of the enemy - as long as the targets keep their phones on.
In short, there is a new hero on the battlefield, the software engineer, and an increasing number of companies are cashing in on the trend, even when the battlefield is on the high seas. Lately, considerable brainpower has been devoted to solving the latest armed threat: piracy.
At first dismissed as a nuisance or a bad joke, a flotilla of rusting fishing boats and Zodiac inflatables full of Somali fighters armed with ageing AK-47s now holds the world's shipping industry hostage. The average ransom for captured ships is about US$5 million (Dh18.4m), and piracy costs the industry, governments and regional economies as much as $12 billion a year. Little wonder, then, that the range and number of these attacks is increasing. Once limited to the Gulf of Aden area, incidents have been recorded as far away as the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, quite a feat when you consider that most pirate ships are barely seaworthy.
Traditional military responses have proven futile. The pirates mostly reside in the lawless regions of Somalia, and no government has the stomach to attempt an occupation of that country. There is not even a clear legal recourse to deal with piracy, leading to the release of pirates back into operation after capture.
The stopgap solutions are equally untenable. Maritime insurance costs are skyrocketing, and there is no clear alternative to traditional shipping routes through pirate territory. Some in the shipping industry choose to pay the ransom after about a year of haggling; others are taking matters into their own hands by hiring mercenaries or even renting coastguard vessels belonging to neighbouring countries for defence. Even the sailors are being forced to improvise. One Chinese crew manufactured petrol bombs from a stash of empty bottles to fight off a pirate attack.
If the defence industry can capture even a fraction of the money spent on anti-piracy measures every year, the potential profits are massive, so it's no wonder that defence companies are throwing themselves into solutions.
The high-tech answers to piracy at this year's Idex are as novel as they are varied. High-powered lasers designed to blind boarding parties and microwave transmitters that create the sensation of a severe sunburn on the victims are only some of the tools being pitched as piracy deterrents.
Other solutions are as old-fashioned as they are direct. Abu Dhabi's Tawazun Defence Systems has teamed up with a Russian company, Tsar Cannon, to create the world's most accurate sniper rifle. Accurate up to about 500 metres and effective at ranges up to 2.2 kilometres, the Lobaev sniper rifle is an elegant solution to a complex problem.
The world will no doubt always need fighter jets, tanks and warships. So from tomorrow, hundreds of tonnes of armoured vehicles will be on display alongside the very latest in precision-targeted missiles and bombs.
If you've got the proper licence, you could even grab yourself an under-barrelled grenade launcher or two. There will be daily displays of prowess by tanks, planes and boats. So gearheads need not despair that this Idex will be any less of a spectacle than in previous years.
Even in the high-tech world of a fourth- or fifth-generation war, bombs still matter.
smclain@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Mohammed Al Attas
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
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Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo and dual electric motors
Power: 300hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,500-3,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.0L/100km
Price: from Dh199,900
On sale: now
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if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com