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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54235209
How the UAE Emerged as a Regional Powerhouse
(BBC News) Frank Gardner - In 1999, with the Kosovo war raging, I was at a camp set up by the Emirates Red Crescent Society. Emirati troops patrolled the perimeter in Humvees mounted with heavy machine-guns. We had flown up the previous day in Puma helicopters flown by UAE Air Force pilots. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, a graduate of Britain's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, tells me there that the UAE has entered into a strategic partnership with France. As part of a deal to buy 400 French Leclerc tanks, the French are taking a brigade of Emirati troops "under their wing," training them to deploy alongside them in Kosovo. The UAE became the first modern Arab state to deploy its military in Europe, in support of NATO. Emirati forces also began quietly operating alongside NATO in Afghanistan. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis dubbed the UAE "Little Sparta," in reference to this country punching well above its weight. This September, the UAE sent ships and fighter jets to Crete for joint exercises with Greece. With U.S. help, Abu Dhabi has become the first Arab nation to send a mission to Mars.