The UAE Navy on Sunday signed a multi-million-dollar deal to buy US-based Raytheon Company’s rolling airframe missiles (RAMs) for protection of its ships.
RAM Block 2 is a supersonic, lightweight, quick-reaction, fire-and-forget weapon that is designed to protect ships against anti-ship missiles, helicopters, aircraft and surface craft. The amount of the deal was not disclosed amount.
Chris Davis, president of Raytheon International, UAE, said: “The UAE wants to protect the investment they’ve made in their naval forces, and that’s what RAM missiles provide.”
The missiles will be used to protect the UAE’s Baynunah-class corvettes, which are used by the UAE Navy for surveillance, interception, coastal patrol, helicopter operations and other security missions.
Alan Davis, Raytheon’s director of short-range defence systems, said the RAM Block 2 is ideal for the UAE Navy because it “defends against complex threats that are manoeuvring faster than other systems can defeat.”
