Thread by @elisabethmalom1

🧵Latest: #Russia angles for drone-making partners in the Middle East. Rosoboronexport has said it wants to establish drone production facilities in #MidEast region, including UAE, as it attempts to grab market share in area it deems receptive to the idea.
defensenews.com/global/mideast…

2. State-owned Russian media agency TASS cited the export agency as saying it would make overtures to regional governments at the UMEX 2024 conference here, held here on Jan. 23-25, singling out the show’s host nation in particular [#UAE].

3. “Company representatives will speak about broad capabilities in the field of industrial cooperation to localize drone production on the territory of the customer, hold joint work to create prospective samples with the use of Russian competences in their design,” TASS reported.

4. In last 2 years, Russia’s military-industrial complex has been focused on supporting invasion of UKR, which has now reached a standstill w/ roughly 1/5 of the country occupied according to analysts. Rate of equipment consumed on battlefield has left little for Moscow to export

5. As I noted in a CNA report I wrote on the #Russia's customer base over the summer, the #MidEast is the only region that recorded a decent increase in Russian arms purchases from 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022, now accounting for 17% of these exports.
cna.org/reports/2023/1…

6. However, no considerable partnerships have since been announced between the Kremlin and Gulf countries. The report notes that rather, regional states that may have expressed a previous interest in Russian arms programs now seem to be leaning more towards Western weapons.

7. In the unmanned systems sector, the Gulf region has looked to a greater extent to #Turkey as a key supplier. In July, #SaudiArabia placed an order for Akinci combat drones, which the Turkish manufacturer Baykar referred to as the “biggest sale” to date between the two nations.

8. This contract brought the number of Gulf customers of @BaykarTech drones to four, along with Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE. On Jan 18. the Emirati defense conglomerate Edge Group also announced that it had integrated its guided bomb onto the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone.

@BaykarTech 9. It remains unclear which specific drones models Moscow wants made here: “The ones that people want – the Lancet and most Orlans are not available for export, and the ones that are available – KUB loitering munition and Orion – receive a lukewarm reception,” @sambendett said.

@BaykarTech @sambendett 10. However, one candidate could be the Zala ISR done, he added, using the acronym for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Zala Aero Group, the manufacturer, is present at the drone show here, though the company does not have any aircraft on public display.

@BaykarTech @sambendett 11. When asked about the prospect of Russian drone manufacturing in the Middle East, and whether any of their platforms may be included, a Zala representative said the company was unaware of these reports.
“It is the first time we are hearing about this,” the rep told me.