The United Arab Emirates and some of its neighbors are planning to buy missile defense systems and integrate them into a regional missile defense shield, Defense News reported today (see GSN, April 24).

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council will determine the requirements for a missile defense system by the end of the year, according to Maj. Gen. Khaled al-Bu Ainain, commander of the United Arab Emirates’ Air Force and Air Defense Command.

“If gulf states went with a series of Patriot missiles, it would be easy later on to integrate them in one regional defense system,” said Susan Baumgarten, president of Raytheon, which produces the Patriot missile.

The GCC includes the U.A.E., Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.  Kuwait and Saudi Arabia already have Patriot missiles, according to Defense News (Riad Kahwaji, Defense News, June 23).

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