UAE Armed Forces places Dh 1.8b order for production of Tawazun Dynamics Al Tariq systems

Dubai: The UAE Armed Forces has placed an order for the production of an undisclosed quantity of Tawazun Dynamics' Al Tariq precision-guided weapon systems at a total value of Dh 1.8 billion (US$500 million). Manufactured by Tawazun Dynamics, a member of the Tawazun Group, Al Tariq is a family of strap-on bomb kit systems. Utilising GPS/INS guidance, Al-Tariq provides users with an all-weather, day/night operational capability. The order is part of GHQ's drive to support home-grown defence manufacturing capabilities, to provide job and career development opportunities for the UAE nationals and to benefit from Tawazun's vast experience in the industrial and manufacturing fields. Tawazun Dynamics was set up in September 2012 as a joint venture between Tawazun Holding and the Dynamics division of South Africa's largest defence manufacturer, Denel. Tawazun Dynamics, is operating its Abu Dhabi-based facility for the development, manufacture, assembly and integration of precision-guided systems for conventional air munitions. The company is 51% owned by Tawazun and 49% by Denel. Meanwhile, the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the UAE Armed Forces and Tawazun have signed a contract which provides for the latter procuring, delivering and integrating the laser-guided TALON missiles. TALON missile system is currently being produced in the UAE under a co-development and production and marketing program between the UAE Armed Forces and the Raytheon Missile Systems. Under the contract, Tawazun will also maintain a full integration of TALON system into the UAE Armed Forces' existing rocket systems and deliver a training program on the system for the armed forces' personnel. The integration program will also cover platforms of the UAE-made Nimr armoured vehicles which are now serving in different units of the UAE armed forces. It is worth noting that field testing of the TALON Missile System had been completed successfully. Raytheon is currently finalising the airworthiness and qualification of TALON system on the Apache helicopters. – Emirates News Agency, WAM