UAE: Drone parts to be manufactured in Abu Dhabi through Boeing's subsidiary Insitu

The new Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Centre of Excellence at Tawazun Industrial Park will localise maintenance, repair, and overhaul, training, and other essential services for the UAE Armed Forces

Waheed Abbas

Published: Thu 12 Dec 2024, 6:28 PM

Last updated: Fri 13 Dec 2024, 12:18 PM

Insitu, a subsidiary of US aircraft maker Boeing, plans to manufacture parts of drones in the future, said Diane Rose, president and CEO of Insitu.

Rose was speaking to Khaleej Times after the opening of Insitu’s new Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Centre of Excellence at Tawazun Industrial Park in Abu Dhabi which will localise maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), training, and other essential services for the UAE Armed Forces.

Insitu manufactures a family of runway-independent, long-endurance UAS including the ScanEagle, Integrator, and Integrator Extended Range.

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“The facility has been realised through Tawazun Council with a focus on supporting the UAE’s land forces who are the largest customer of the Integrator system. The vision is to provide repair and overhaul capability and training at this facility… This new facility will strengthen our partnership with the Tawazun Council, enhance the support we provide, and create frequent opportunities for collaborating with other Emirati companies across the defence ecosystem,” Rose said.

Insitu is planning a four-phase growth till 2030. In the first phase, it opened the Centre for Excellence which will provide an engine overhaul and training facility. Then it plans local sourcing and research and development (R&D) projects, an engineering centre and a manufacturing and software centre in the last phase.

(From left) Brigadier General Yacoub Yousef Al Hammadi, Director of the Directorate of Industrial Security and Licensing; Juma Al Dhaheri, Executive Director for Boeing Aerospace Middle East; Martina Strong, US Ambassador to the UAE; Kuljit Ghata-Aura, President of Boeing Middle East, Türkiye, Africa and Central Asia; Diane Rose, CEO of Insitu; Brigadier General Mohmmed Ali Mohammed Al Sumaiti, UAE Land Force; and Majed Al Shamsi, Director, Economic Programmes, Tawazun Council, at the opening of Insitu’s facility in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Photo: Supplied

“We have a phased approach that we like to partner with other local industry players and try to advance in repair capability, potentially manufacturing capability. There is a contemplation of R&D activities, and third-party payloads that are developed here in the UAE. This is how we want to progress over the course of a few years to expand capability,” Rose added.

She added that Insitu has the capability to accelerate any of those opportunities based on the requirements of the needs of partners.

“The initial focus is on manufacturing key components of drones which will reduce time and bring partnership with local industry. That would be the starting vision. The idea of assembly activity is something that is part of a longer-term strategy.”

She elaborated that this MRO facility could be a significant benefit for regional partners in terms of repair activity or staging of common components for logistics support and training activity.

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