The United Arab Emirates (UAE), now in the closing stages of a 10-year, USD15 billion defence modernisation programme, has become the most rapidly developing military power in the Gulf region, challenging Iran and Saudi Arabia, which along with the now-departed regime in Baghdad, had been the region's major powers. At the same time, the UAE and the other smaller states within the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) are moving towards greater multilateralism and closer bilateral military and economic ties with the US. That has loosened Saudi dominance of the six-nation alliance, a cornerstone of the regional defence structure since its creation in 1984, and, along with the fallout from the events of 9/11, has reduced Riyadh's influence in the Gulf. As it gathers formidable military capabilities, the UAE - a federation of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain - is clearly determined to contest Saudi Arabia's military domination of the GCC and Iran's power-projection capabilities across the Gulf, particularly in the chokepoint Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route.
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