Ministry orders 10,000 UAE pistols

Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Interior has chosen the UAE's Caracal International as a provider of pistols for its staff.

"We have accredited Caracal's pistols as an official weapon for officers and personnel at the ministry, and we decided to order 10,000. Soon we will receive 2,500 as a first phase of the delivery," Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, told Gulf News during his tour of Idex.

Caracal's production achieved recognition from Nato, as well as the highest rating of the German Armed Forces Technical Centre for Weapons and Ammunition.

Official weapon

"We decided to make it an official weapon because of the high ratings it achieved," said Shaikh Saif.

The company, which will produce about 30,000 pistols a year, is the first in the region to produce world-class light weapons.

"We had two contracts for 20,000 units with the ministry of interior and the UAE armed forces, and we are receiving many orders from other countries in the region. However, we have already sold out our full capacity production for 2007, as we need to keep a portion for inventory," said Hamad K. Al Neyadi, Caracal's Managing Director. Caracal International was officially launched by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, as the first highly advanced pistol manufacturer in the Gulf.

And also yesterday the UAE's armed forces announced the purchase of 10,000 pistols, a contract worth Dh18 million.

"Caracal's objective is to establish a globally recognised high-precision industry within the UAE, while simultaneously acting as a role model for the other emerging regional industries," Al Neyadi added.

Caracal pistols and accessory products were designed and developed by the Caracal Research & Development team, lead by Wilhelm Bubits. To date, more than 10 individual patents have been registered internationally, asserting Caracal's intellectual property rights in bringing breakthrough concepts and solutions to the small arms industry and defence technology.

The Caracal series of advanced pistols starts with an all-new semi-automatic 9 x 19mm pistol.

Initially, the Caracal series enters the market offering pistols of two different sizes; the Caracal full size and Caracal compact size. Both models are available in several other popular calibres.