UAE Edge Group Acquires Complete AMMROC Stakes from Lockheed Martin
The UAE military is one of the most powerful and influential armed forces in the Middle East and is actively playing a part in multiple ongoing regional conflicts such as, the Yemeni Civil War, Libyan Civil War, etc. The UAE Edge Group announced acquisition of complete stakes in AMMROC by purchasing the remaining 40% owned by US’ Lockheed Martin.
With international superpowers as its biggest allies, purchasing weapons and other defense equipment has never been a trouble for the gulf nation. Lockheed Martin, out of all has remained its constant defense supplier. The UAE armed forces have been the biggest purchaser of US weaponry and military equipment for several years now.
However, the Gulf nation has always preferred maintaining low dependence ratio on foreign nations and operating internally for the majority of their requirements.
In taking one such steps in July 2020, Abu Dhabi’s defense conglomerate — the UAE Edge Group — put forth the proposal of buying 40% of the remaining stakes in AMMROC. Before the acquisition, Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky were the two shareholders in AMMROC since 2010.
AMMROC or Advanced Military Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Center, is a UAE-based organization for military maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). AMMROC was partially owned in the initial period by the US-based Lockheed Martin, under a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Development Company.
As part of the takeover announced by UAE Edge Group, what was once a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Mubadala Development Company, is now be a wholly owned MRO firm by the United Arab Emirates’ Edge Group.
The firm is a one of a kind military MRO store in the entire region and is an exclusive authorized service centre for Lockheed C-130 Hercules. The shop offers MRO services for Lockheed’s F-16 and acts as an armoury MRO hub for the components of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
The CEO of UAE Edge Group, Faisal Al Bannai said, “Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky have played a pivotal role in developing the UAE’s MRO capabilities. As Edge assumes full ownership of AMMROC and continues to pursue the military and civil MRO market with specialist skills, we recognise that such achievements are the outcome of our international partnerships.”
He added, “Going forward, we will continue to explore emerging business opportunities with Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky to further strengthen our relationship.”
This isn’t the first time that the UAE has domesticated an international procedure. The first fire arm to ever be developed by the UAE was a Caracal pistol in 2007, which was exhibited at the IDEX — one of the biggest defense exhibitions.
However, as far as the deployment of weapon system is concerned, UAE in Yemen war has been significantly supported by the Lockheed Martin for years. As a result, the firm ended up sharing the Gulf nation’s share of stains of leading the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen, too.
In 2017, the Lockheed Martin Corp was paid by the UAE defense forces $1.63billion for upgrading 80 of its F-16 fighter jets, as per the Defense Ministry spokesman at the time. The deal was made while the UAE in Yemen was an active participant, alongside regional partner Saudi Arabia.
In November 2018, Lockheed won a $129 million worth of contract for offering maintenance and sustenance of two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Batteries for the UAE in Yemen. The contract included software to hardware development process, logistical support, engineering, surveillance of missile field, as per the US Department of Defense. The completion date of the contract was set to 2021.
In December 2019, again, the defense equipment provider gained another moderation contract worth $114 million wherein it was meant to supply the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles (PAC-3) to the UAE. This year too, UAE in Yemen had an active role to play. This contract is set to complete by 2024. Besides this, UAE-US relations have been steady with plenty of more such contracts signed in 2020, too. In the February 2020 contract, the defense supplier was ordered to deliver additional Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods, spares and upgrades.
The acquisition of the remaining 40% stakes by the UAE Edge Group will give the Emirati defense forces an upper hand in shifting a majority of its operations, maintenance and repair tasks concerning defense equipment internally. However, what required a contract earlier, automatically coming into the eyes of the public, will quietly be executed under the nose of the international community without the UAE armed forces attracting any scrutiny.
