Español
English
Today, 4 November, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, the United Arab Emirates signed agreements with the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) and Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (Isdefe), with the aim of strengthening collaboration in the field of military airworthiness.
These agreements were signed by the Assistant to the Emirati Chief of Staff for Joint Capabilities, Major General Abdulrahman Al-Marri; the General Director of INTA, Lieutenant General Julio Ayuso Miguel; and the CEO of Isdefe, Francisco Quereda Rubio, in the presence of the General Director of Armament and Material, Admiral Aniceto Rosique Nieto and the Director of the Technical Office of the Secretary of State for Defence, Major General Miguel Ivorra Ruiz.
The signing of these new agreements highlight the confidence in Spanish technical capabilities and promote institutional cooperation and bilateral relations between the Ministries of Defence of the two countries
In 2019 the authorities of the Ministry of Defence of the United Arab Emirates, in the framework of these bilateral relations, asked the Spanish Ministry of Defence to support the creation of a National Military Airworthiness Authority that could certify the aircraft in its fleet.
In response to the Emirati request, the Directorate General of Armaments and Material (DGAM) proposed that Isdefe provide technical assistance services as a specialised tool of the Ministry of Defence to support the establishment of this Authority.
In July 2020, under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two ministries, a service provisioning agreement was signed between the Emirate's Ministry of Defence and Isdefe for the design, implementation and supported operation of the Military Airworthiness Authority.
For Isdefe, these new agreements will strengthen this collaboration in the aeronautical field that began in 2019, and is slated to last until 2025, allowing it to be expanded into other areas, such as unmanned aerial systems and support for certification in new aerial platform programmes.
In addition, the Emirati Authority is signing a new Framework Agreement with INTA, which had previously been recognised as a Competent Technical Body, setting out the general conditions under which the Institute will provide engineering and technical support to the Emirati Authority on tasks related to certification processes for aircraft designed and manufactured by local industry.