Beyond the Deal

Defence partnerships are no longer defined solely by the weapons nations buy; increasingly, they are shaped by the strategic resources they secure together. For much of the past century, military cooperation was measured in aircraft delivered and missile systems acquired. Success was defined largely by operational capability. That era is quietly giving way to another.

Today, competitive advantage depends on what lies behind military capability: resilient supply chains, trusted industrial ecosystems, secure access to critical materials and the capacity to manufacture essential technologies close to home.

This competition has now expanded beyond the battlefield into mining, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and industrial policy. Globalisation once rewarded efficiency above everything else. Geopolitics has reminded governments that efficiency without resilience creates dependence.

Against this backdrop, the four-decade partnership between RTX and the UAE illustrates a broader transition taking place across the international defence industry. What began as a conventional supplier-customer relationship is evolving into an integrated industrial partnership encompassing manufacturing, technology development, talent, resilient supply chains and, most recently, critical materials.

Viewed through this lens, the RTX-UAE relationship is more than the story of a successful company. It offers a glimpse into where defence cooperation itself is heading.

Long-term partnerships are rarely built through individual contracts. They emerge from decades of confidence, shared interests and consistent execution.

Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, RTX is the world’s second-largest defence company, bringing together Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon under one corporate structure serving commercial, military and government customers worldwide.

Within the UAE, RTX has long occupied a position extending beyond that of a defence supplier. Its contribution to national air and missile defence, including Patriot systems, AN/TPY-2 radar and the combat-proven AMRAAM missile, has formed an important component of the country’s defensive architecture. Yet military capability tells only part of the story.

RTX established Raytheon Emirates in Abu Dhabi in 2017, formalising a relationship that had already matured over three decades. Since then, cooperation has continued to deepen through increasing industrial integration. A traditional procurement relationship has evolved into one characterised by trust, shared capability and long-term ambition. In an era of geopolitical uncertainty, that trust has itself become a strategic asset. Trust ultimately finds its greatest expression not in contracts, but in investment.

Today’s partnership is defined not by the systems delivered, but by the capabilities developed inside the UAE.

RTX now operates five manufacturing facilities across the country while working alongside more than 100 local suppliers. This growing footprint reflects a deliberate commitment to strengthening the UAE’s defence ecosystem through technology transfer, advanced manufacturing and local capability development.

The Coyote counter-unmanned aerial system interceptor is now produced within the UAE. In 2025, Raytheon inaugurated a dedicated facility at Tawazun Industrial Park for its final integration, assembly and precision testing. The programme is further strengthened through local suppliers such as EPI, part of EDGE Group.

What is taking shape is more than local assembly. It is the gradual emergence of an integrated defence industrial cluster.

Beyond manufacturing, RTX collaborates with the UAE Armed Forces on advanced C4ISR capabilities while investing in STEM education and workforce development, recognising that sustainable industrial growth depends on people as much as technology.

The same philosophy extends across the wider RTX enterprise. Pratt & Whitney’s partnership with Sanad Group will establish the first GTF engine maintenance, repair and overhaul centre serving South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Collins Aerospace has similarly partnered with Etihad Engineering to establish regional centres of excellence.

Collectively, these initiatives reveal a coherent strategy: building the industrial infrastructure required not merely to acquire advanced defence systems, but to sustain, maintain, improve and ultimately contribute to global defence value chains.

If the first phase of the RTX-UAE relationship centred on capability, the next is increasingly defined by resilience.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2025 between RTX, Tawazun Council for Defence Enablement and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) marks an important shift in defence cooperation.

Its subject is gallium, a material at the heart of many advanced defence technologies.

In compound semiconductor forms such as gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium enables higher power density and superior performance across missile systems, radar, electronic warfare, avionics and space applications. As defence technologies become increasingly sophisticated, materials such as gallium are no longer ordinary commodities; they are strategic enablers.

History has often been written by nations that mastered steel, oil and silicon. The next chapter of strategic competition may well belong to those that secure the critical materials underpinning advanced technologies.

The proposed collaboration seeks to determine whether EGA can commercially produce high-purity gallium using its existing aluminium refining infrastructure. Should the project succeed, Abu Dhabi would emerge as an alternative source of a material that has become increasingly important to advanced defence manufacturing.