Threatening the Region — How Does ‘Israel’ Control Emirati Drones?

After signing the normalization agreement, relations between the Israeli Occupation and UAE have become stronger. The latest reflection of their close relationship was the agreement of drones with advanced Israeli technical controls amid neighboring countries’ fears about its repercussions and the danger it may cause to the Arab and Islamic region.

On January 24, 2023, the Emirati EDGE Group, a world leader in technology and defense, announced a strategic investment in the Israeli company High Lander worth $14 million.

High Lander is one of the advanced companies in the technology of superior control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), commonly known as a drone, as it adopts the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) or the global Mercator projection system, the pioneer for air traffic management.

The High Lander system also provides coordination and safety features that are much needed in light of the increasing number of drones during the congestion of the skies.

What was shocking amid the developing normalization process between the Gulf state and “Israel,” is that EDGE announced that work on using the Mercator projection system for High Lander will take place in both “Tel Aviv” and Abu Dhabi, as the Arab capital will be a hotbed for Israeli companies, security, and intelligence officers.

 

Collaboration History

“Our company is excited about the strategic partnership with the Emirates because it strengthens our position in managing the fleet of drones, and from there, we will start expanding,” said High Lander CEO Alon Abelson, in a statement on January 24, 2024.

Immediately after the agreement, the Emirati website, ZAWYA, reported on the importance of this investment by saying that EDGE includes 20 companies under its umbrella, and by working with the Israeli company, it will place great emphasis on developing autonomous systems as part of its growth strategy, including drones, smart weapons, and cyber technology.

This is why High Lander co-founder, Ido Yahalomi, said: “This partnership is very important, as it gives our company the resources to advance technology on a larger scale, thereby strengthening our presence at the forefront of the UAE’s command, control, and drivetrain sectors.”

The High Lander company was established in Tel Aviv in 2018, by individuals with decades of experience in aviation and innovation, and employs many Israeli army officers and engineers specializing in cybersecurity.

This was not the first cooperation between the EDGE company and the Israeli Occupation regarding UAVs. On March 11, 2021, the Hebrew “Israel Aerospace Industries” announced that it would cooperate with EDGE to develop an advanced anti-aircraft defense system.

The company is one of the major companies in the defense industry. In a statement about its deal with EDGE, it said that “the two companies will work to develop an advanced system to counter drones specifically for the UAE market.”

EDGE” has been commissioned by the government to provide the UAE armed forces with advanced weapons, working to develop drones, unmanned vehicles, smart weapons, and electronic warfare tools instead of conventional weapons.

This was in conjunction with the UAE signing the normalization agreement with “Israel” on September 15, 2020, to publicly open its gates for active cooperation in various fields, the most dangerous of which was defense and intelligence cooperation.

Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli normalization with the Gulf states has become a great blessing for Israeli military industries.

On February 5, 2022, the newspaper indicated that the UAE has acquired Israeli air defense systems against aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones after signing the normalization agreements.

The Breaking Defense website, which specializes in military affairs, revealed that the UAE deployed for the first time an Israeli Barak air defense system.

The Emiratis need a large number of defense systems to protect some of their sensitive sites that have been repeatedly bombed by Iranian missiles and marches launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to the website.

 

Drones Obsession

Emirates rulers are obsessed with the idea of owning marches for espionage purposes; their obsession led to signing the big deal with the Israeli Occupation.

On August 20, 2019, the Haaretz newspaper revealed that Abu Dhabi concluded a secret deal with “Tel Aviv” to obtain advanced spy planes with a value reaching $3 billion.

The newspaper stated that the Israeli businessman Mati Kochavi, who has very good relations with the then Crown Prince, the current President of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed, is the one who represented “Israel” in that deal.

Haaretz reported that the UAE had already received a full unit of these aircraft.

It pointed out that part of the price of this deal was paid in cash.

The newspaper stated that after the systems were installed in the planes, they began to take flights in preparation for their final handover to the UAE army, which actually took place before the end of 2019.

On August 25, 2019, the International Press Association and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung published an investigation in which they confirmed that Israeli planes going to the UAE “will be able to intercept communications, identify electronic systems operated by Iran, locate and map them in real-time.”

The investigation stated that the Emirati (Israeli) spy planes would target not only Iran but all countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi’s ally.

 

Real Setback

Some might think that the Israeli intervention benefited the UAE defense sector by introducing these technologies into the world of drones, but what happened was the opposite because normalization opened the door to the defense sector for Israeli companies, and exposed Emirati companies and the dreams of drones projects to a real setback, according to observers.

In 2011, the UAE government announced a strategic plan to build a base for military industries, open the way for national companies for military production, and benefit from organizing the IDEX exhibition for defense industries on its soil.

On March 10, 2021, Intelligence Online published a report on the Aquila company affiliated with the Emirati defense, EDGE, which was established in 2019 to work in the field of intelligence.

The defense company Aquila Technology, backed by EDGE, was supposed to hand over Abu Dhabi the first locally developed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, but the project was quietly frozen, according to the magazine.

The freezing of the program is a major blow to the state-owned EDGE Group concerned with asymmetric warfare, which acquired Aquila in 2019 to lead the program for developing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft in the Emirates.

The Intelligence Online stated that there are a number of hypotheses related to the reason for the postponement of the Aquila aircraft project, including speculation that the contract was awarded to an Israeli company after the normalization agreement between “Israel” and the UAE.

 

Great Threat

On July 26, 2020, Haaretz published a study confirming that there is great activity in commercial relations between the UAE and the Israeli military, security companies, and industries.

It estimated the investments and deals between the UAE and Israeli technology, aerospace, and weapons companies between 300 and 500 million dollars annually, noting that the total trade exchange between “Israel” and the Arab countries amounts to 300 million annually.

The Israeli Occupation’s strategy, which is based on penetrating and controlling the field of Emirati marches, not only poses a threat to the Gulf state but also to the region as a whole, which was confirmed by the American Oil Price website in October 2020, when it stressed that the alliance between the UAE and “Israel” is based on an intelligence project that threatens the region to gain expansion and influence.

Among the main goals of the normalization agreement between “Israel” and UAE is the latter’s endeavor to benefit from Israeli progress in the security and military fields, especially with its interference in many conflicts in several countries, most notably Yemen and Libya, according to the website.

A report by Al-Jazeera Net website stated, on August 29, 2020, that normalization and the opening of direct communication between “Tel Aviv” and Abu Dhabi will allow a real expansion in security and military trade transactions, such as the field of unmanned aircraft, missile defense systems and other defense systems that have been exported to countries around the world that consider Israel as a friend.

Israeli defense companies and security industries, under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense, sold advanced weapons systems to the UAE, with total deals estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

The most prominent Israeli companies that worked secretly with Abu Dhabi are Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., the Israel Aerospace Industries, and Elbit Systems, which is working on developing and manufacturing electronic systems for advanced weapons.