CAIRO, Egypt -- United Arab Emirates announced Sunday plans to buy more than 400 French-made Leclerc battle tanks for about $3.5 billion, Radio Cairo reported.
The deal was announced by the UAE Defense Minister during the opening ceremony of the first International Exhibit of Defense Industries in Abu Dhabi, which also was attended by France's Defense Minister Pierre Joxe, the report said.
The deal, which demonstrated traditionally strong defense ties beween France and the Gulf emirate, was viewed as a victory for the French tank over the U.S.-made Abrams A1, and the British-made Challenger 2, the report said.
UAE already uses the older French version of Lecrec, the AMX-30 battle tanks, in its armed forces.
General Dynamics of the U.S. recently won lucrative deals to sell Abrams A1s to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while Vickers of Britain made a much smaller but maiden deal to export Challenger 2s to Oman.
The radio also quoted a spokesman of the UAE Defense Ministry as saying that other arms deals with the United States and Britain will be announced within a week.
Analysts expect competition among the three to intensify over the much coveted contract to supply Saudi Arabia with about 500 additional battle tanks.
Diplomats in Cairo said the exhibit in the UAE capital city and the big armsdeals announced recently in the region reflect the increasing importance of the defense market in the oil-rich Gulf for arms producers, particularly in the West.
The end of the Cold War and the increasing pressures on defense budgets of the western powers apparently have attached a greater importance on such arms deals that ensure the continued operation of production lines at western arms establishments.
