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Belarus-UAE military technology cooperation moving on to joint R&D
MINSK, 13 September (BelTA) – In military technology cooperation with the United Arab Emirates Belarus is moving from sales to joint research and development, BelTA learned from Chairman of the State Military Industrial Committee of Belarus Roman Golovchenko.
According to the source, Belarus and the UAE have been cooperating in the area of military technology since 1994. This cooperation has been rather stable and has demonstrated a tendency for constant growth. “We are about to finish a major contract, which was declared a long time ago. The delivery of a batch of tank retrievers. We are in negotiations on stepping it up and signing a new contract to deliver the same kind of vehicles after the vehicles are tested in practice,” Roman Golovchenko said.
In his words, new directions in Belarus-UAE cooperation have emerged recently in such spheres as radioelectronic warfare, radiolocation, and special software. “We are moving from simple sales to joint research and development. It is truly a very promising area, which gives us good results, including financial ones,” the official said.
Roman Golovchenko did not specify any figures or plans on advancing cooperation with the UAE in military technology sphere. “Aiming for specific figures is not the custom in these matters but certainly we would like to achieve substantial results. Although at this stage absolute figures are less important than the market share. Because we have to compete with such global players as Lockheed Martin. Keeping our market share and increasing it is what matters for us,” he said.
The chairman of the State Military Industrial Committee of Belarus went on saying that work in this field goes on with all the Middle East countries, Gulf countries, including in association with the UAE. “Since historically we’ve achieved tighter cooperation in the Arab Emirates, then taking into account the fact that there is a regional union in the Gulf, we are reaching other countries of the region via the UAE. It may not be as fast as we would like but the East favors patience,” Roman Golovchenko noted.
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