Abu Dhabi: One of the highlights of this year’s International Defence Exhibition (Idex) was the showcasing of the UAE manufactured armoured vehicle Enigma, which was unveiled on the opening day of the exhibition by Emirates Defence technology.
The specialised armoured 8x8 armoured vehicle weighs 28 tonnes, and can carry 11 personal, making the UAE manufactured vehicle specifically unique, as no other armoured vehicle in the world is as large and heavy as the Enigma according to the companies Group Finance Director, Joy P. Samuel.
Speaking with Gulf News, Samuel gave some insights on the Enigma’s advanced capabilities and functions, including the ability to function even in the event of a nuclear strike, “The Enigma is a specialised armoured vehicle that is built and made in the UAE, it is a very highly advanced vehicle. It can move across several different terrains, and even if it goes into water it can still drive and function. The armoured vehicle is also protected from a nuclear attack, so let’s suppose a nuclear attack happens, the air that comes into the vehicle is fully filtered so nothing will happen to the person inside, so it is a highly advanced state of the art vehicle.”
According to Samuel, two prototypes have been built so far at a rough cost of Dh100 million, with one of the prototypes on display at Idex, “We have developed two models which roughly cost in the region of Dh100 million, there was a lot of testing done with trial and error, until we arrived at the prototype that you see. Once we begin producing the armoured vehicle on the production line, each one will roughly cost somewhere in the region of Dh15 million. We are going to do some more trials during the summer, and then we will begin the production line for the vehicle.”
The plan for the Enigma armoured vehicle after production will be to sell locally to the UAE military, and then look to sell both regionally and internationally. “We definitely want to export abroad, but before that there is a demand from the UAE army, so we’re going to first start producing the armoured vehicle for the army, and then after that we will look to produce and export our vehicle abroad.”
“Our plans are always to expand and grow larger, the UAE is a progressing country, and so we want to continue to produce, as well as have more UAE made manufactured arms technology. It needs a lot of work however, a lot of investments are needed because it is expensive to manufacture and develop the technology. You also need a lot of expertise and knowledge, and for us we can say that we have the knowledge and expertise, we have been in the field for a long time. We also have a lot of dedication which important, to have the pride of making and producing this technology in the UAE, so we can say it is UAE made, that gives a lot of motivation. We are a national company and so we have national pride.” He added.
The writer is a trainee at Gulf News.