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Topic: Air Warfare Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Middle East Tags: Drones, Sudan, Sudanese Civil War, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates How the UAE Became the Middle East’s Drone Superpower February 7, 2026 By: Brandon J. Weichert
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The UAE’s advanced drones are being sent to its allies in the ongoing civil war in Sudan, giving Abu Dhabi a real-world laboratory in which to improve them.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has fashioned itself into a drone superpower. A small country in physical size, the tiny gulf kingdom has striven to become a technological dynamo that punches above its weight in key technological domains.
Drones, the weapons that will define the conflicts of the future—and have already redefined the conflicts of the present—have become the niche specialty of the UAE.
The UAE: Small State, Big Tech Ambitions
A recent report from Breaking Defense, a defense industry trade publication, demonstrates how the Emiratis have become a drone superpower. According to the report, the United Arab Emirates has signed roughly $400 million worth of local drone production and technology agreements during the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conferences (UMEX) show in Abu Dhabi.
The reason that UAE defense conglomerates are partnering with US companies is to develop advanced airframes, sensors, better artificial intelligence (AI) software, and to integrate munitions. But the key aspect of the deal is to emphasize local manufacturing. Ultimately, the UAE wants to enhance their indigenous drone industrial base ensuring they can export these systems regionally.
In essence, the UAE is positioning itself as a global hub for drone design, assembly, and integration, similar to what Turkey did with their Baykar drone production a decade earlier.
Sudan Has Become the World’s New Drone War Laboratory
Here’s how Emirati drone production capability impacts geopolitics. Al Jazeera has documented how Sudan is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most intense drone battlefields. As it turns out, it is UAE-made drones that are saturating the battlefield in Sudan. Indeed, the Emiratis are using the African conflict as a testbed for their increasingly advanced drone systems.
Much to the chagrin of the neighboring Saudi Arabia, the Emiratis had supported the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the rebel group seeking to take control over Sudan in the ongoing civil war there. Armed with the UAE’s most advanced drones, the RSF has made considerable gains in recent years.
Since 2023, there have been more than 1,000 drone strikes in the Sudan conflict. Both sides in the Sudan civil war, the RSF and the Sudanese military government of General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, are relying heavily on drones in their combat operations. And the UAE has been supplying many of these drones since that time.
These drone operations since 2023 have negatively impacted the already beleaguered people of Sudan. That’s because drones have struck power plants, hospitals, water facilities, all of which is amplifying the humanitarian collapse of that country.
Recently, under immense pressure, the Emiratis pulled out of their active role in supporting the Sudan conflict. Still, the world has seen a clear demonstration of how effective UAE-made drones are—and it wants more of it. This makes the recent drone development deal with the United States all the more important for the UAE. They need to ensure their domestic industry can support the mass production of these vehicles for sale.
The UAE has found itself recently on the wrong side of many of their neighbors. As mentioned above, the Saudis are cross with the UAE. But so too are the Egyptians over the issue in Sudan. While the UAE supports the RSF in Sudan, just next door, the Egyptians are supporting the Sudanese government.
A New York Times report exposes how the Egyptians have established a covert drone base at East Oweinat, near Sudan’s border, which has been used to launch long-range strikes into Sudan. Over the last few years, the Sudan conflict has become a bizarre proxy war involving the Gulf Arab states as well as Turkey, Egypt, and Russian-linked logistics firms, and Chinese firms.
But the UAE has developed a robust (and growing) drone ecosystem that will continue to define conflicts across the region. Their main competitor appears to be Turkish firms. In Sudan, the Egyptians are conducting drone attacks against the RSF, which the UAE nominally supports, using Turkish drones.
The UAE and the Birth of a Middle Eastern Drone Market
Despite the diplomatic headaches involved, the UAE is learning a great deal about how to sell the best drones in the world from its engagement with the Sudan conflict.
Thanks to its moves, it has crafted for itself a drone-industrial ecosystem that rivals even that of Turkey, a major player in the drone business. These UAE-made drones even compete with Chinese exports. That the UAE drones utilize American technology is another possible plus.
By focusing on domestic drone manufacturing and combining it with AI, while testing it in proxy conflicts, the UAE is spearheading the new warfare economy in the Middle East.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Weichert is the host of The National Security Hour on iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. He hosts a companion show on Rumble entitled “National Security Talk.” Weichert consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, among them Popular Mechanics, National Review, MSN, and The American Spectator. And his books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. Weichert’s newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter/X @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / Jahidul-hasan.
The post How the UAE Became the Middle East’s Drone Superpower appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org