Russia, UAE to complete delivery of 50 Pantsir-S1 in 2013

Abu Dhabi: Russia will complete the delivery of 50 Pantsir-S1s, an air-defence missile system to the UAE, a top official said.

Alexander Denisov, General Manager of High Precision Weapons, a state corporation of 19 military industries, told this in an interview with Gulf News.

“Pantsir-S1 is a short-to-medium range combined surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft artillery system manufactured by the Tula-based Instrument Making Design Bureau (KPB),” said Denisov.

“Russia had provided the UAE Armed Forces with training devices and as per the agreement further development will provide service maintenance and continuing training of UAE specialists in aspects of operation, repair and service maintenance,” he added.

According to Denisov, scores of Emirati officers have undergone six-month training in Russia on the new devices.

Russian reports revealed that Moscow had signed a $734-million contract to supply 50 Pantsir-S1s to the UAE in 2000 on purchasing 50 Pantsir-S1s.

There were also talks to modernise a large number of BMP-3s in an effort to increase their combat capability

The infantry fighting vehicles had been earlier supplied to the UAE by Kurganmashzavod, a Russian machine building company based in Kurgan, western Siberia.

Russia has emerged as a major exporter of military hardware globally.