Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and the second most populous city after Dubai with a population of around two million people. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

TEL AVIV: The United Arab Emirates has quietly and unofficially asked Israel about acquiring missile defense systems to help protect it from Houthi missile attacks, Israeli sources here tell Breaking Defense.

The talks, described by sources as preliminary, come as the UAE pledged to “deal with any threats” in the wake of the deaths of three civilians last week in a drone-and-missile attack. On Monday, the UAE said it intercepted two ballistic missiles over Abu Dhabi that had been fired by Houthi rebels. (US Central Command said it used Patriot interceptors “coincident to efforts” by UAE forces to “engage” two missiles and defend the approximately 2,000 US forces stationed at Al Dhafra Air Base.)

Israeli sources said the idea of using Israeli defense systems came up in recent unofficial discussions between the two countries’ officials in the UAE, when the UAE officials probed whether Israel would be willing to supply the systems. The Israeli defense ministry declined to comment about “any potential customers” for Israeli defense systems. Representatives for the UAE ministries of defense and foreign affairs did not respond to a request for comment for this report.

Breaking Defense has previously reported on interest from Saudi Arabia in Israeli-made defense systems. In September, Israeli sources said the Saudis were looking at the Rafael-produced Iron Dome, which is better against short range rockets, or the Barak ER, produced by Israeli Aerospace Industries, which is designed to intercept cruise missiles.

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Weeks ago, the emirates signed a $3.5 billion deal with South Korea to acquire its Cheongung II mid-range surface-to-air missile weapons system, but the system isn’t expected to be delivered before 2024. An Israeli system could serve as an interim solution to an urgent problem, sources said.

An Israeli source told Breaking Defense that three operational systems, or a combination of the three, could be a partial answer until the South Korean system comes online: Israeli Aerospace Industry’s Barak 8 or Barak ER, or the Rafael Spyder.

The Barak-8, currently in operational use in Israel and India, was also reportedly used to shoot down a Russian-made Iskander ballistic missile launched by Armenia in November 2020 during a conflict over Nagorno-Karabach.

The Spyder, a truck-mounted system, is a “quick response” defense system that Rafeal says has “multiple target engagement capability for dealing with saturation attacks.”

Any potential purchase would follow the awarding earlier this month of a $53 million contract from the UAE government to a subsidiary of the Israeli defense firm Elbit for electronic warfare protective measures for the Airbus A330 tanker transport.