Yesterday I was priviledged to attend a reception at Parliament House, Canberra, celebrating the 37th United Arab Emirates Armed Forces Day. As you might expect the Australian Defence forces were well represented, led by General Hurley, CDS.
Wonderful hospitality from the UAE Defence Attache, Brigadier Staff Pilot Abdulla Alhashmi, and a thrilling exposition of the capabilities of the UAE Armed Forces.
I was amazed by how many operations this small nation's armed forces has been involved in recently, ranging from Gulf War 1 to their Air Force contributing to the Syrian air intervention.
But what seemed odd was an interesting mix of weaponry – everywhere, state of the art kit as you would expect from a well resourced Defence Force, F-16s with the latest avionics, Abrams MBTs, etc etc, and…BMP3s?!
I know from personal experience that they are very well trained, and they were very proud of the fact that their officers are trained at Dartmouth, Annapolis, Sandhurst, West Point, Duntroon etc.
But representing the Australian University sector, which provides much of their academic and English training, it was interesting to see the emphasis they placed on the integration of women into all roles.
In these difficult times, it was good to see that the defences of a key part of an unstable region are in good hands, and that their integration with their Western allies is so strong.
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