Since 2015, countries in the Gulf have imported more than 4,500 armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). However, in a small yet significant number of Gulf states, domestic defence industries are emerging to take on part of this demand. This article outlines market trends in each sector of the Gulf AFV market, analyses the factors influencing decisions on which types of AFV are procured, and evaluates the extent to which domestic defence industrial ambitions can offset the Gulf’s reliance on direct imports.
According to data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in March 2025, the six states that form the Gulf Cooperation Council – namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – together accounted for more than 20% of global arms imports between 2020 and 2024. Funded by its members’ sizeable reserves of oil and natural gas and encouraged by persistent conflict and instability in the Middle East, this demand for defence equipment has made the Gulf a key market for many of the defence industry’s international suppliers. The armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) sector of the defence market is no exception to this, with SIPRI estimating that over 4,500 AFVs have been imported by Gulf militaries since 2015. Yet a first glance at the SIPRI report belies another interesting trend over the previous decade: a declining share of global arms imports for Saudi Arabia and the UAE. While there are multiple reasons for this, one factor is the increasing contribution of their nascent local defence industries to meeting demand. A close examination of recent AFV procurement programmes in the Gulf shows that this factor is beginning to have an impact on some specific sectors of the AFV market, although it is likely that established forms of procurement will endure through to the next decade and beyond.
Friendship through arms: MBTs
A continuing reliance on direct imports is most apparent in the procurement of main battle tanks (MBTs). Of all AFV types, these rank among the most complex to develop and the most expensive to procure and support.
The most common MBT operated in the Gulf is the American General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) M1 Abrams, more than 700 of which are in service with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Both of these countries have procured their own specific versions of the Abrams via the US government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procedure. For example, in August 2016 Saudi Arabia received approval for the USD 1.15 billion sale of 153 M1 Abrams hulls, 133 of which were to be upgraded to the Saudi M1A2S standard and 20 used as battle damage replacements for losses incurred during the Saudi intervention into the Yemeni Civil War. Kuwait later received approval for upgrading 218 M1A1 Abrams to the Kuwaiti M1A2K standard in October 2017, which was confirmed to have entered service by December 2022.
Bahrain is also poised to join the ranks of Gulf Abrams operators. Reliant on an inventory of around 50 M60A3 MBTs, it operates the region’s smallest and least capable MBT fleet. While Leonardo proposed a modernisation package for this vehicle at the Bahrain International Defence Exhibition and Conference (BIDEC) in October 2017, Bahrain’s preference appears to have shifted towards the acquisition of new vehicles. In March 2024, it received a USD 2.2 billion FMS approval for the procurement of 50 M1A2 SEPv3s, complemented by various other supporting equipment.
One major exception to the preference for the Abrams is the UAE, which has procured 436 Leclerc MBTs from France since 1993. Unlike other Gulf states, the UAE is attempting to upgrade these vehicles using its own domestic industry, albeit with assistance from foreign partners. During the IDEX exhibition in February 2023, the UAE company International Golden Group (now part of its state-owned Edge Group) signed a teaming agreement with Nexter (now KNDS France) to modernise the Leclerc. Further details of this arrangement were not disclosed, but glimpses of what the upgrade may entail were seen at the subsequent IDEX in February 2025. Tucked away in a quiet area of the exhibition was an Edge-branded model of a Leclerc fitted with an active protection system (APS). This could have been related to the formation of the Pulse joint venture between Edge and Indra in December 2024, which was created to facilitate the development of radar systems, among them an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for a Vehicle Active Protection System (V-APS). Lacroix Defense has also confirmed that it is pitching its Soft-Kill Active Protection System (S-KAPS) for the UAE’s Leclerc upgrade.
Another outlier in the MBT field is Qatar, which purchased 62 Leopard 2A7Q MBTs from Germany in 2013. In March 2019, Turkish media reported that Qatar may also procure 100 Altay MBTs from the Turkish company BMC, 49.9% of which is owned by the Qatari state. However, nothing more has been heard of this initiative, perhaps as a result of the Türkiye’s delays in starting mass production of the Altay.
With these Gulf states having already procured a modern MBT, the only outstanding opportunity in the region is Oman. Unusually, Oman operates 38 of the British Challenger 2, as well as fewer than 100 legacy M60A1 and M60A3 MBTs. Although Oman could potentially piggyback on the British Army’s Challenger 3 upgrade to extend the life of its Challenger fleet, this would still leave open the question of a replacement for the M60s, indicating that it may opt for a new-build MBT instead. This was hinted at in 2018, when reports emerged of a potential USD 884.6 million sale of 78 South Korean Hyundai Rotem K2 MBTs to Oman. However, while Hyundai Rotem did display the K2ME version of the K2 specifically tailored to Middle Eastern requirements at IDEX 2025, company officials confirmed that there were no plans to trial this vehicle in the region.
The preference for US and French MBTs among Gulf states highlights the importance of diplomacy in Gulf procurement. Rather than run open competitions, Gulf states prefer to acquire ‘big-ticket’ defence equipment through informal means, such as direct negotiations with preferred suppliers or governments. These negotiations are often motivated more by geopolitical considerations rather than operational needs. This reflects a perception among Gulf elites that major arms purchases give the government selling the equipment an incentive to protect the sovereignty of the buyer against any external threats. Such guarantees are particularly important to smaller Gulf countries such as Bahrain and Qatar, both of which have been designated major non-NATO allies by the US. However, the announcement in April 2025 that Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration had agreed to sales worth close to USD 142 billion shows that even the larger Gulf states try to buy security and diplomatic goodwill through arms procurements.
Old tracks, new wheels
Compared to MBTs, considerably less attention has been devoted to the procurement or modernisation of tracked AFVs such as armoured personnel carriers (APCs), infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and their associated support vehicles. Gulf militaries therefore continue to operate an eclectic mix of ageing tracked AFVs that lag behind contemporary global standards. These range from the near ubiquitous M113-series of tracked APCs and derivatives, to the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) series used by Oman, and the Desert Warrior IFV in service with Kuwait, all of which are legacy 20th-century designs that have not been upgraded.
Only the UAE has taken concrete steps to modify its tracked AFV fleet. Having removed the turrets from its Russian BMP-3 IFVs to use on its new wheeled Rabdan AFVs, the UAE has begun to replace these with the DVK-30 one-person turret made by the Slovakian company ZTS Špeciál. First seen in December 2024, this modification was later present in a UAE MoD video of the 5th Mechanised Infantry Brigade published in April 2025, suggesting that it had been inducted into service. However, while the modification does restore combat utility to the BMP-3 fleet, it does not appear to address any of the vehicle’s other shortcomings, notably its low level of ballistic and blast protection, which may be indicative of its low priority in the UAE Armed Forces fleet.
In the wake of the aforementioned USD 142 billion announced during President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in April 2025, there is a chance Saudi Arabia may sign contracts for the expansion or modernisation of its M2 Bradley AFV fleet. Saudi Arabia first indicated interest in this during Trump’s initial term, when a USD 2.35 billion deal for the modernisation of 400 Bradleys and a USD 1.35 billion deal for 213 new Bradleys was proposed in May 2017. However, there has yet to be any firm indications that such a deal ever materialised. Similarly, the presence of a Rheinmetall KF41 Lynx IFV during Qatar’s 2018 National Day Parade does not seem to have led to this vehicle entering service with the Qatar Armed Forces.
By contrast, demand for wheeled APCs and IFVs in the Gulf has remained at a constant high since 2015. Indeed, Kuwait is the only Gulf country that has not (publicly at least) acquired a new 6×6 or 8×8 wheeled AFV over the past decade.
Despite being relative newcomers to the global AFV market, Turkish manufacturers have been one of the principal beneficiaries of this Gulf procurement wave. For example, FNSS received a contract from Oman in 2015 to deliver 145 Pars III 8×8 and 27 Pars III 6×6 wheeled AFVs to the Omani military, with deliveries completed in 2020. Bahrain also started to take delivery of Otokar Arma 6×6 vehicles for the Bahrain Defence Force and the National Guard of Bahrain in 2015. Two years later, the UAE’s military announced that it had placed an order worth USD 661 million for 400 Rabdan 8×8 AFVs from Al-Jasoor, a joint venture set up by Otokar and the UAE’s Tawazun Economic Council, a government organisation tasked with supporting the development of the UAE defence industry. Based on the Arma 8×8, production of the Rabdan was intended to transition to licensed production by Edge Group’s Nimr after the first 100 vehicles had been completed in Türkiye, but while there is evidence that more than 250 Rabdans have been delivered to the UAE, domestic production does not appear to have taken off.
Difficulties establishing local production of the Rabdan may explain why reports from IDEX 2023 anticipating an order for a second batch of Rabdans have so far failed to materialise. Instead, the UAE awarded local company Calidus a contract worth USD 642.5 million for production of an undisclosed number of its Wahash 8×8 AFVs during IDEX in February 2025. Calidus also displayed new self-propelled howitzer (SPH) and air-defence variants of the Wahash at IDEX 2025, as well as the new Light Infantry Fighting Vehicle (LIFV) 8×8. Yet while the Wahash may come to be produced in the UAE, like the Rabdan its development was carried out in partnership with a foreign company, namely South Africa’s ADG Mobility.
To a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia also appears to be making progress towards establishing domestic production of wheeled AFVs. During the 2024 edition of the World Defense Show (WDS), Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) displayed an LAV II 8×8 AFV that it claimed to have upgraded, although observable external changes from the standard vehicle appeared to be purely cosmetic. With this in mind, Saudi Arabia is likely to remain dependent on foreign manufacturers to supply it with wheeled AFVs into the near future. It is known to have taken delivery of several variants of the General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada (GDLS-C) LAV 700 AFV that it ordered in 2014. Subject to a great deal of political controversy within Canada on account of Saudi Arabia’s intervention in the Yemeni Civil War and its alleged role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the order had reportedly been reduced from 928 to 742 vehicles by late 2018. More recently, there is strong evidence to suggest that Saudi Arabia ordered 32 of the South Korean Hanwha Aerospace Tigon 6×6 in 2022, with the vehicles reportedly procured for use as command vehicles alongside Saudi Arabia’s K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers. Given that Hanwha is developing additional 8×8 variants of the Tigon family for export and is anticipated to announce a partnership with Saudi Arabia before the end of 2025, it is likely that additional Tigons will be ordered by Saudi Arabia.
GDLS and Türkiye’s stable of AFV manufacturers are also likely to compete for a Qatari requirement for 8×8 vehicles. Qatar had previously looked set to procure the VBCI 2 8×8 from France, having signed a letter of intent with Nexter to procure 490 vehicles in December 2017. However, following a diplomatic spat between France and Qatar, this agreement lapsed, leaving the requirement open to competition. Among the frontrunners could be the ARTEC consortium’s Boxer, ten of which have already been procured by Qatar for counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) purposes, and the Desert Viper variant of the LAV 700, which is mentioned as one element of a USD 42 billion package of defence deals proposed during Trump’s visit to Qatar in April 2025. The Turkish BMC Altuğ may be another strong contender on account of Qatar’s desire to foster close diplomatic relations with Türkiye, its ownership of 49.9% of BMC, and BMC’s reported willingness to set up production facilities in Qatar.
The focus on wheeled AFVs instead of tracked AFVs may reflect prevailing operational requirements in the Gulf. Since a greater proportion of terrain in the Gulf consists of sandy deserts or urban settlements in which wheeled vehicles are equal or superior to tracked vehicles, the superior tactical mobility of tracked vehicles on soft soils does not equate to a significant operational advantage in most of the Gulf. Wheeled vehicles can also be more suitable for use in internal security operations where they may need to traverse paved roads and dense urban environments. This is particularly significant for the Gulf market, as internal security is not only one of the primary roles of the armed forces, but is also the main purpose of several organisations outside of the armed forces that also procure AFVs, the largest example being the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Outside of the possible diplomatic benefits conferred by procuring tracked AFVs from a foreign ally and the symbolic prestige attached to operating them, the rationale for operating a sizable fleet of expensive tracked vehicles is therefore less compelling in the Gulf.
Starting small: PPVs
Whereas the participation of Gulf defence industries in the MBT, tracked AFV, and wheeled AFV sectors is at a nascent stage, they already have an established footprint in the production of wheeled protected patrol vehicles (PPVs). Typically 4×4 or 6×6 in configuration, these are an ideal starting point for any would-be AFV manufacturer, as they can be produced in their most basic form using commercially available chassis and automotive components without necessitating the kind of specialised manufacturing and integration expertise of a higher-end AFV.
This low barrier to entry is reflected in the fact that even the Gulf countries with the least capable defence industries have proven capable of producing basic PPVs, if only at a small scale. For example, the Bahrain Defence Force independently developed the Faisal PPV, introducing it at the 2019 edition of BIDEC. Similarly, Oman’s Engine Engineering Company developed the Nimer series of PPVs, while local company Karwa Motors has signed an agreement with The Armored Group to produce the latter’s range of PPVs under licence. More successfully, small numbers of PPVs produced by Qatari private company Stark Motors have not only been procured by elements of the Qatar Armed Forces and internal security agencies, but have also been exported to Jordan and several African countries with the support of the Qatari government.
However, more substantial progress towards indigenisation has been made in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both of which had previously relied on surplus US-made Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for protected mobility requirements. Although Saudi Arabia continues to import PPVs from a wide range of suppliers, SAMI and other Saudi suppliers are to be involved in future procurements. During WDS 2022, ERAF Group signed a teaming agreement with Navistar Defense to investigate local manufacturing of the Maxxpro MRAP for a requirement of between 500 and 900 vehicles to equip various branches of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and its Presidency of State Security. No progress was reported on this venture during the subsequent WDS 2024, but another cooperation between the UAE’s Edge Group and SAMI for Saudi procurement of 149 of Edge’s Jais Mk 2s appears to have been more successful, resulting in SAMI-badged Jais Mk 2s being paraded by Royal Saudi Naval Forces elements in September 2024. By 2026, SAMI intends to set up a dedicated land platforms production line at Al Kharj that will presumably be oriented towards facilitating increasingly independent local production of such platforms.
As in other sectors of the AFV market, the UAE’s domestic industry has the most sophisticated capability in the PPV sector. The most successful example of this is the Edge Group subsidiary Nimr, which has produced large numbers of its Ajban and Hafeet series of PPVs for the UAE and export customers. Its latest Ajban Mk 2 variant was shown to have entered service with the UAE in October 2024, while a small batch of around five was also exported to the Maldives in April 2025. Nimr has also pursued further development of the Jais platform, resulting in the aforementioned Mk 2 variant that has been exported within the Gulf to Saudi Arabia. In a similar vein, Calidus unveiled the Multirole All Terrain Vehicle (MATV) at IDEX in 2025, receiving a USD 492.6 million contract for an unknown number of vehicles on the first day of the exhibition.
The eagerness with which Gulf countries have pursued domestic production of PPVs is a product of their growing desire for economic diversification and strategic autonomy in their foreign policy. A prime example of this is Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic policy, which contains an ambitious target for localising 50% of the kingdom’s defence procurement by 2030 (though the specific metrics by which this is to be measured are not defined). It is believed that this will insulate the oil-dominated economy from the impacts of the global transition away from fossil fuels, while also lessening dependence on potentially unreliable defence suppliers. The latter is significant, as both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have seen major land vehicle procurements disrupted due to concerns in Western governments about their human rights records.
The gulf between aspiration and reality
Gulf procurement of AFVs over the previous decade suggests that there is high demand for MBTs, 6×6 and 8×8 wheeled AFVs, and PPVs in the Gulf. While direct imports remain the most common method of procuring AFVs, domestic defence industries are gradually establishing a market presence. This is most apparent in the PPV sector, which is the more technologically accessible segment of the market, and in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where creating a local defence industry capable of manufacturing AFVs is explicitly linked to government economic policy. Nevertheless, it is an inescapable fact that the success of these domestic ventures remains dependent on foreign suppliers selling vital components, expertise, production licences, and other IP to Gulf industry. Though this has historically been a successful starting point for new defence industrial players such as Türkiye and South Korea, many countries in the Gulf still lack the pipeline of skilled labour and the defence research and development ecosystem necessary to sustain an independent AFV industry. While local assembly of AFVs may be within reach for some Gulf defence industries by the end of the decade, independent development of anything more complex than a PPV thus appears at present to be little more than a mirage.
Jim Backhouse
