PM hints at more troops in Gulf

David Cameron undertook a three-day visit to the Gulf states in November
21 December 2012

David Cameron has hinted that more British forces could be based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Prime Minister said troops could be stationed there as part of a multibillion-pound deal for the purchase of Typhoon fighter jets.

The UK already has some forces based in the Gulf, including in Bahrain, as well as aircraft in the UAE and Qatar.

But Mr Cameron indicated that the deal being negotiated with UAE, which has shown an interest in buying up to 60 Tyhoons, could see a substantial boost in numbers there.

He said: "I think what you are seeing significantly in the UAE is not just a plan to sell Typhoon aircraft but a big, significant defence cooperation which could, yes, lead to more British troops stationed in that country.

"I think this is an exciting possibility for both countries, to have a proper strategic defence relationship and defence partnership. I think that is the way the world is going. People don't just want to buy equipment now, they want to have proper industrial defence partnerships.

"Where we have strong alliances, like with the UAE, I think it is all to the good."

The Premier sealed a £2.5 billion deal for Oman to buy 12 Typhoons when he visited Muscat.

The country is also purchasing eight Hawk aicraft from BAE Systems.

"This is an extremely important deal," Mr Cameron said. "This supports thousands of jobs in the UK and they are hi-tech, high-skilled engineering and technology jobs. We need to do more of that."

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence(Ministry of Defence)

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in