A soldier interfaces with a high-tech augmented reality. (Getty images)
IDEX 2023 — In the latest step on its journey to become a regional hub for emerging technology in the defense sector, the United Arab Emirates’ government-controlled Tawazun Council delcared today the opening of a new machine learning and artificial intelligence center established with the help of American defense firm L3Harris.
L3 and local firm Atlas Telecom established the center through a joing venture, known as BAZ Technologies, also known as the Intelligence Software Center.
“L3 Harris contributes to this center with knowledge transfer, training and initial funding support,” the director of business development of communication systems at L3Harris UAE, Gregory Zoughbi, told Breaking Defense.
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He added that the center is already fully equipped and it is open for business at Tawazun Industrial Park.
According to the Tawazun statement, the center’s initial project under development, the Electronic Warfare Launch Portal, “will facilitate the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to real-time data, enabling faster, more informed decisions across multiple domains.”
“The UAE has an objective of becoming a world leader in the development of AI and AI-based applications. BAZ is a vital development for the technical and military capabilities of the UAE,” said Abdullah Saif Al Awani, Chief Economic Program Officer at Tawazun Council.
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Although he didn’t specify the applications of electronic warfare (EW) or AI developed in this center, Zoughbi said, “Some applications include big data analysis of intelligence and EW information.”
Andreas Krieg, CEO of MENA Analytica, a London-based strategic risk consultancy, said he already considered UAE to be on the leading edge of emerging tech in the Gulf.
“Both in terms of cyber technology and machine learning, the UAE [is] miles ahead in comparison to other countries in the region,” he said. “In particular, the UAE [has] been investing strategically into joint ventures such as this in order to be able to be part of the research and development cycle, which enables them to retain ownership and control of some of the products and technologies developed.”
He added that the UAE’s future strategy relies on data and information, rather than oil and gas, as the key commodity of the 21st century.
“Big data exploitation and machine learning are going hand-in-hand in the UAE, and so far the UAE have been able to create joint ventures with global market leaders in the field from Israel, China, Russia and the US,” Krieg said.
He expected that Abu Dhabi will be able to synergize all these different experiences and know-how to become an information powerhouse, not just for civilian but also for military use.
“The UAE together with Israel are the only powers in the region who have used information and electronic warfare extensively against individuals, organizations and states in the region,” he said, not to mention its reported use of cyberespionage.
“The more data the UAE can collect and analyze, the better it will be able to inform its decision making,” Krieg concluded.
