Dubai Airshow 2021: UAE announces development of new naval CMS

The adoption of a new indigenous combat management system could involve upgrades to vessels such as the UAE Navy's Baynunah-class multirole corvettes. (CMN)

The United Arab Emirates' defence procurement and research organisation, the Tawazun Economic Council, announced on 18 November that it had launched a new project to develop a new combat management system (CMS) for use by the country's navy and coastguard.

Known as the National Combat Management System (NCMS), the system is being jointly developed with the UAE's Marakeb Technologies, as well as a presently unselected foreign company. Tawazun noted in a statement that “talks are currently under way with leading European companies to select the international strategic partner for this project through the Tawazun Economic Program”.

The project is being delivered as part of efforts to reduce cost, support interoperability, and provide a “national solution that will encompass future requirements”, Tawazun added in a statement. The overall development timeline for the project is expected to be four years, ahead of broader roll-out to the country's fleet.

Matar Ali Romaithi, Tawazun's Chief Economic Development Officer, said, “The system will allow the navy to have a sovereign capability to make modifications and upgrades over time. Concurrent with the rapid growth of UAE's defence and security industry, the NCMS hardware and software development environment will be key to long-term strategic success for sovereign capability development.”