Building the strength of the internal Industrial Base capabilities and capacity to meet future Security and Economic needs of the UAE
UAE Industrial Base Strategy
Background:
This conceptual document outlines the need to provide a more robust industrial base within the UAE based on the current political, geographical, military, and economic environments. Also, there is a need to give the current and future armed forces the necessary materials and systems that could be produced within the UAE to ensure the UAE’s internal and external security. The general premise is to create the conditions, the policies, the procedures, and the national will; to establish an internal industrial base over time to produce the necessary military major end items, equipment, and sustainment materials necessary to maintain a viable armed force.
General Analysis:
This document articulates the overall need, desire, rationale, and some of the major tasks required to bring this concept to fruition. The paper also describes the complexities of the tasks necessary to get the current industrial base to a performance level. It could provide the armed forces with the required materials and equipment to ensure their security without relying upon manufacturers and other nations’ industrial bases. Additionally, it addresses the massive integration strategies required to connect the many parts and sectors of the UAE Society, including government ruling bodies and governmental agencies, the armed forces, industries, the educational systems, industry associations, and global and multinational industries, as well as critical infrastructure requirements.
Adopting a national strategy this complex in its nature, and with the extended timeline that would be required, to realize the actual institutionalization of an industrial base capability and capacity for producing the right types and right quantities of military equipment to ensure National Security would require at a minimum:
• Long-term vision and political will
• Long-term economic commitment
• Tenacious follow-through over many years
• Superior organization and management
• International staff of experts to negotiate and facilitate
• And single agency control at the highest levels of the UAE government
This single agency would have to have complete control over the planning, execution, integration, coordination, risk management, and final decision authority for all matters involving the industrial base, as well as access to the highest levels of government, to ensure the continuity with the political will and the economic realities, upon which key industrial base decisions must be based, such as the capitalization of key industrial base facilities, whether or not it is a joint-use facility producing both civilian and military items, whether it has an export capability, and whether it is a world or regional market share that can be penetrated along with the competition analysis required to penetrate world markets to ensure the economic success of industrial base ventures.
Major success factors and considerations:
To accomplish a program of this magnitude would require integral planning and integrating a rational, logical road map that would link the concepts and requirements to desired outcomes. Using a logic pyramid represents an example of using the elements provided.
This pyramid represents the key alignment of goals, objectives, strategy, and so forth necessary to ensure success. It represents a logical linkage between each element, which provides continuity to the system. For example, the overall goal is to provide the UAE with the means necessary to ensure its internal security without relying heavily on others. For this to be accomplished, two primary objectives must be fulfilled. First, a unified industrial base, a base within the UAE that is synchronized and targeted to provide, both in peace and in conflict, the necessary equipment to sustain the armed forces in meeting their military missions while at the same time being able to produce goods and services that are marketable on the world market. Second is self-sufficiency, which has the necessary raw materials, labor, manufacturing facilities, management and planning, and engineering assets within the country. It is committed to the government to support the industrial base and its efforts to keep its civil and military requirements.
To have both a unified industrial base and self-sufficiency, some strategies must be in place to facilitate both ends. The plans include national partnerships, key partnerships with nations, and companies willing to partner to build the UAE’s internal capability and maintain that base. These partnerships could consist of key elements of technology transfer and joint ventures to institutionalize the technology and manufacturing processes necessary for the growth of the industrial base. Additionally, we add the concept of self-development, where the expertise gained by the UAE educational systems, entrepreneurial systems, and industrial innovation come together to produce new ideas, factories, and products that support and sustain the targeted industrial base.
As the strategies are put in place, there are several tactics that we can use to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of the system. These tactics may include strategic alignments within the industrial and partner bases. This type of integration provides a synergy of effort and better outcomes that reduce prices, thereby creating efficiencies and effectiveness within the industrial base. Other tactics involve process standardization and variance control, thereby allowing the manufacturing processes to be predictable and increasing quality levels, making the product more marketable in the world markets, creating a higher market share and greater returns on investments. Additionally, encouraging increased investments in the UAE industrial base will have the effect of stabilizing the industrial base and the economy while at the same time increasing capacity.
Throughout the design and buildup of the industrial base, a standard must be applied to all the engineering efforts to ensure stability and consistency of the individual production elements and the integration of the industry’s components into one synergistic action. For this logic pyramid, we have used the standard engineering concepts that also apply to processes and design that would directly affect the industrial base.
