At the Dubai Air Show 2021, not only are the major global defense companies participating but there is also a strong presence of the UAE industry, which despite being relatively young, is ambitious and advanced.
Below are some examples of its diverse range of guided munitions exhibited by the government conglomerate EDGE, which brings together 25 Emirati defense companies:
Al Tariq
The Al Tariq family of smart munitions was originally a project developed in South Africa by Denel Dynamics under the name Umbani. Its evolution continued in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is manufactured for the Air Force and export.
Al Tariq smart bombs have INS and GPS guidance, which gives them an accuracy of 10 meters with respect to the designated target. But they can also be equipped with laser or infrared terminal guidance warheads, which significantly increases their targeting.
Thunder
Thunder family of guided bombs. They come in 3 versions. The P-31 is the lightest of the 3, with a drop weight of 140kg, of which 110kg belong to the warhead.
It is followed by the P-32 of 240kg total and 209kg warhead, and finally the Thunder P-4 of 1,150 kg weight. The guidance technology for all 3 is the same, achieving an accuracy of 10 meters, which can be improved to 3 meters if a laser terminal guidance head is added.
Nasef
Nasef is a light-weight cruise missile, weighing 100 kg, of which 50 kg belong to the warhead. It can be air-launched or ground-launched (in which case it is equipped with 2 booster rockets that bring the ammunition weight up to 125kg). It has the same accuracy as the aforementioned munitions and achieves a range of 120 km when launched from a height of 33,000 feet (10,000 m) and 90 km when launched from the ground.
Saber
Saber is an air-launched cruise missile for ground attack, weighing 1,200 kg, of which 200 kg is the warhead. It has a range of 290 km and a speed of 0.8 matches. An interesting aspect is that it is declared autonomy of 20 to 30 minutes of flight, which indicates that the missile is designed to orbit the general area of the target, before receiving the order to attack through a satellite link. A very useful feature to be able to engage targets of opportunity, which can be detected by external means such as special forces units on the ground, drones, reconnaissance aircraft or the same optronic sensor mounted on the nose of the missile.
HAS-250
Developed by the HALCON company, the HAS-250 is a 1,200 kg air-launched subsonic anti-ship cruise missile equipped with a 200 kg warhead and a maximum range of 250 km. Its seeker warhead is of the active/passive type, highly accurate, and can engage naval targets as well as shore-based coastal targets.
Rash-1M, 2M, and 2H
The RASH family of light-guided munitions, produced by ADASI, is designed to engage lightly or lightly armored targets, from light combat aircraft to armed drones.
The smallest (2.5 kg) is the Rash-1M, which is essentially a mortar munition with an INS/GPS guidance kit and wings for glide capability. Its maximum range is between 3 and 9 km, depending on its launch height.
It is followed by the 14.5 kg Rash-2M. This is also a larger mortar ammunition, coupled to a guidance and glide kit, which gives it a maximum range of 18.2 km when launched from 6,000 meters.
The Rash-2H bomb is a more advanced type of munition than the previous ones. Weighing 14.5 km, this version has the advantage of having a UHF data link system that allows it to be launched from higher altitudes, extending its glide range to 23 km when launched from 7,600 meters. An additional advantage is that the munition can be redirected to another target in flight. In the future, a laser seeker head is expected to be integrated to significantly increase its accuracy.
