Ten-Year Review: The UAE has never elaborated its views on cluster munitions or commented on its position on joining the convention. It has participated in a few meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019. The UAE abstained from the vote on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2019.

The UAE is not known to have produced cluster munitions, but it has imported them, possesses a stockpile, and may have used cluster munitions.

Policy

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The UAE has never made a public statement elaborating its views on cluster munitions or its position on joining the convention.[1]

The UAE did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the convention.

The UAE has participated as an observer in meetings of the convention, most recently at the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019, where it did not provide a statement.[2]

In December 2019, the UAE abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions “to join as soon as possible.”[3] The UAE has not explained why it has abstained from voting on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

The UAE has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[4]

The UAE is not a party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

The UAE is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions.

The UAE imported cluster munitions and possesses a stockpile of ground-fired cluster munition rockets and missiles as well as air-delivered bombs from the United States (US), as well as from Turkey and the United Kingdom (UK).

The UAE purchased an unknown number of CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons from the US in 2010.[5] Following US sales announced in 2006, the UAE received 101 M39A1 ATACMS missiles (each containing 300 M74 submunitions), 104 M26 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) rocket pods (each pod contains six rockets, while each rocket contains 644 M77 dual-purpose improved conventional munition [DPICM] submunitions), and 130 M30 GMLRS DPICM rocket pods.[6] The UAE received 1,800 CBU-87 bombs (each containing 202 BLU-97 submunitions) from the US in 1999.[7] The UAE also received 3,020 TRK-122 122mm unguided cluster munition rockets, each containing 56 M85 DPICM submunitions, from Turkey in 2006–2007.[8]

According to Jane’s Information Group, the UAE Air Force possesses British-made BL755 bombs and has received Hydra-70 air-to-surface rockets. However, it is not known if they include the M261 multipurpose submunition variant.[9] The UAE is also reported to possess Soviet-made 122mm Type-90 and 300mm Smerch surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if they contain submunition payloads.[10]

During the IDEX international military trade fair held in Abu Dhabi in February 2017, defence companies from Egypt and Russia advertised cluster munitions for sale.[11]

Use

In 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told the Monitor that the UAE has never used or produced cluster munitions.[12]

Since March 2015, the UAE has participated in a Saudi Arabia-led joint military operation in Yemen against Houthi forces, also known as Ansar Allah, which has used cluster munitions.