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Soldiers of French air force special forces (commando parachutiste de lair n°10) perform a demonstration with their Caracal helicopter on January 16, 2020 at the air base 123 of Orleans-Bricy, central France. (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

BEIRUT — The UAE has terminated a nearly €800 million contract to procure 12 H225 Caracal multirole helicopters from French aircraft giant Airbus, a government official exclusively told Breaking Defense.

“We recently terminated a contract with Airbus Helicopters to purchase H225 helicopters. We found it difficult to continue the contract due to the high lifecycle cost, the limitations in adapting to modular designs of future mission requirements, and the complex technical proposal,” Muammar Abdulla Abushehab, defense and security industry affairs sector chief for the Tawazun council, said in a May 8 interview.

The Tawazun council is the UAE’s independent government entity that works closely with the Ministry of Defense and security agencies in the United Arab Emirates, and it is assigned, among other roles, the research and development as well as technological innovation side of the sector.

Requests for comment to Airbus were not returned by press time.

Abushehab said the cancellation was not a political one, but based entirely on financial and technical reasons. “The company lacked the serious motivation to respond to our demands in order to meet the pressing requirements of the government. The failure to achieve in-country value goals was another factor in the decision to terminate the contract,” he said.

In December 2021, UAE ordered 12 H225M Caracal helicopters during the French president’s visit for an estimated price of €750-€800 million. The H225M is the military version of the H225 and can be mounted with different sets of weaponry, from machine guns to rockets to anti-ship missiles. It is operational within the French air force, and has been contracted for export by 11 customers.

Speaking more broadly about the Tawazun Council’s role in the defense sector, Abushehab said his mandate “includes managing governmental defense and security research and development activities, including dual-use applications, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense.”

He added that the main R&D goal is to support acquisition operations, generate intellectual property and product lines and outsource them to industry, and nurture national talents.

“At this point in time, our primary focus is on developing in-country value through all of the operations that we undertake in collaboration with both our local and our international partners,” he said. Tawazun Council has signed contracts with major defense contractors to codevelop in its labs in the UAE. These firms include Raytheon, Boeing, Leonardo, Saab, L3 Harris and others.

“Defense contractors can now obtain offset credits by participating in economic activities that boost the local economy, accelerate technology and know-how transfer, provide job and training opportunities, and improve the supply chain,” he added.