UAE interested in acquiring 12 Chinese L-15 advanced trainers. No F-35 then?

The Ministry of Defense of the United Arab Emirates announced that it intends to contract the Chinese company CATIC for the purchase of 12 L-15 trainer aircraft, with the option of adding 36 aircraft of the same model in the future.

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The information was released by Emirates, the state news agency.

H.E. Tariq Abdul Rahim Al Hosani, CEO of the Tawazun Economic Council, said that this agreement is in line with the policy of diversification of armament sources and the continuous modernization of formations and units of the Air Force and the Armed Forces in general.

The Tawazun Economic Council is currently the body in charge of managing procurement and contracts for the Armed Forces and Abu Dhabi Police.

Al Hosani said, «We have reached the final stages of negotiations with the Chinese side and a final agreement will be concluded soon. He emphasized that diversity is one of the characteristics of the UAE armed forces to obtain the best capabilities to suit their needs and achieve their strategic objectives. He also expressed his confidence in CATIC, which possesses state-of-the-art technology with global competitive advantages».

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Diversification that makes the U.S. uncomfortable

It is true that the UAE Armed Forces have a history of diversification of their armament sources, such as the American F-16 Block 60, the 2009 Mirage and the recent mega purchase of 80 French Rafale, or the Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft systems.

But in recent times a new technology supplier has been incorporated, whose growing presence in the Emirates disturbs the, until now, excellent relations with the USA.

In fact, the Emirati pretensions to acquire the deterrent Lockheed Martin F-35 collided with the firm American demand to eliminate the 5G digital telephone network provided by the Chinese company Huawei, due to the suspicion that these means could be used for espionage and that the security of the F-35’s data could be breached.

Negotiations for this potential $23 billion contract (F-35+MQ-9B+armament) appear to have been put on ice, and no doubt the chances of seeing the F-35A flying under UAE colors will become much slimmer, should the purchase of the L-15 trainers be finalized.