Lockheed Martin eyes more UAE defence work and deeper local talent push

Dubai: Lockheed Martin is seeking to conduct more defence work in the UAE and continue investing in local talent as Gulf governments push for greater industrial cooperation, co-development and local sustainment around the systems they purchase.

Daniel Mouton, Vice President and Chief Executive for the Middle East at Lockheed Martin, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview that the recent regional escalation had reinforced the company’s commitment to the UAE.

“The direction is clear: more work conducted in the UAE and continued investment in local talent,” Mouton said.

Specific investment figures and timelines have yet to be announced, with the company waiting for plans to be finalised with its UAE partners.

“As for specific numbers and timelines, I would rather announce those when they are real and fully agreed with our partners than forecast them in an interview,” he said.

Lockheed Martin’s relationship with the UAE began in 1975 with the delivery of the country’s first C-130 Hercules aircraft.

The company marked 50 years since that delivery at the Dubai Airshow in November 2025, along with 20 years of the F-16 Desert Falcon programme and 10 years of THAAD, the UAE’s high-altitude missile defence system.

The UAE also operates Black Hawk helicopters and HIMARS, giving the relationship a presence across air mobility, combat aviation, missile defence and ground-based precision systems.

Lockheed Martin is now seeking to extend that relationship through local partnerships and technology development.

The company signed agreements with the Tawazun Council for Defence Enablement at Make it in the Emirates to develop national capabilities in chiplet design and assembly and cybersecurity, working with UAE industrial and academic partners.

Its Center for Innovation and Security Solutions at Masdar City also brings students, universities, industry representatives and Lockheed Martin specialists together to work on technology challenges.

The centre runs merit-based internship programmes aimed at developing Emirati engineers, scientists and technology specialists.

Mouton said demand for integrated air and missile defence across the Gulf was rising, but decisions on the allocation and delivery of US-origin systems remained matters for governments.

“Demand for integrated air and missile defense across the Gulf is real and rising. That is clear to anyone watching the security environment,” he said.

Major defence export, licensing and allocation decisions are commonly made at government level, with companies responsible for carrying out the agreed policy and requirements.

“Our responsibility is to build capacity. That means investing in production, suppliers and workforce, while pursuing co-production and regional industrial partnerships where governments agree that is the right model,” Mouton said.

“The durable answer to rising demand is not simply moving finite inventory around a map. It is widening the industrial base that produces these capabilities.”

Lockheed Martin has no new Middle East market entry to announce and would not comment on the procurement plans of individual governments.

Mouton said the nature of discussions with governments was changing, with buyers placing greater emphasis on the industrial and workforce capabilities attached to defence contracts.

The use of expensive interceptors against lower-cost drones has placed greater attention on the economics of air defence during prolonged periods of conflict.

Mouton said the price of an incoming drone could not be considered separately from the potential cost of the damage it could cause.

“Cost asymmetry is a real strategic challenge. But the cost of the incoming drone is only one side of the calculation. The other is the value of what it could destroy and the consequences if it gets through,” he said.

Lockheed Martin is developing systems that allow defence operators to select from a broader range of responses based on the type and severity of each threat.

CommandIQ, the company’s battle-management software, combines information from multiple sensors to create a shared operational picture and help operators select an appropriate response.

Those options can include electronic warfare, counter-drone systems, lower-cost interceptors and high-energy lasers.

Lockheed Martin’s MORFIUS high-power microwave system is designed to disable dozens of drones and can be reloaded for further missions, allowing advanced interceptors to be reserved for ballistic missiles and other higher-risk threats.

“There will still be occasions when an advanced interceptor is the right choice. If a population center, critical infrastructure or a command node is at risk, the priority is achieving the highest confidence of defeating the threat,” Mouton said.

“The objective is not the cheapest response every time. It is the right response, supported by enough depth and enough options to sustain it.”

Recent conflicts have involved threats that are faster, cheaper, more numerous and increasingly deployed together, placing pressure on defence networks built for lower volumes of attacks.

Mouton declined to assess recent operations or the performance of individual systems, saying those evaluations belonged to the governments and armed forces involved.

“Many existing defense architectures were not originally sized for the sustained volume and simultaneity now being seen,” he said.

“The central lesson is that performance cannot be judged platform by platform. It depends on whether the wider architecture can continue to see, decide and engage as the threat changes and pressure builds.”

Sensors, command and control systems and interceptors must operate through a coordinated network with enough capacity to sustain operations over time, he added.

Mouton described the UAE’s earlier decision to add further layers to its national air-defence network as “prescient”, saying recent events had reinforced the value of that approach.

Approximately 77% of Lockheed Martin’s international sales in 2025 were conducted through the US Foreign Military Sales process, under which partner governments purchase equipment through the US government.

The US government approves the sale and its terms before procuring the equipment or services from the company on the partner country’s behalf.