Page 418 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

The Formation of the Federation

a security risk but they are at least easily identified.
It was always clear that it would lake time to amalgamate the
armed forces. The individual Emirates’ forces were the pride of the
Rulers, they were the shaikh’s fighting-men in the traditional sense,
but new wealth meant that their numbers could be increased and
modern weapons could be purchased for them. They were seen as
important symbols of a shaikh’s sovereignty and prestige; therefore
the political price to be paid for trying to enforce amalgamation and
thereby alienating some Rulers would have been disproportionate to
the fighting strength which these forces would have added to the
defence capability of the federal forces, the nucleus of a unified
nationwide army. Yet the determination of most of the Rulers to
continue to build up their own forces was often quoted internally and
abroad as a sign of the lack of a wholehearted commitment to the
federal State. Others suggested that the reluctance of most Emirates
to amalgamate their forces was a reaction to the over-zealous
behaviour on the part of Abu Dhabi to absorb them all into the
overwhelmingly stronger and better equipped Abu Dhabi Defence
Force (ADDF). The latter was the only force in the area that had the
capability to defend the borders of the Stale, and in 1971 it could not
be ruled out that this might be necessary. It has continued to build up
its strength even after the border threat failed to materialise, and this
can be interpreted as an upgrading of the military strength of the
Federation as a whole, at the same time as expanding what was still a
regional force. A further reason for the reluctance of Dubai and the
other Emirates to merge their forces was their disapproval of the
structure and manning of the ADDF and its concept of its role in the
state.150
Thus the issue of the defence forces proved to be another potential
source of friction within the Federation. But in spite of differences
over certain aspects of the national defence arrangements, con­
siderable progress has been made towards total unification of the
armed forces. When the UAE was formed and the federal Ministry of
Defence created, the five established forces continued to operate and
to be funded independently of each other, but there were occasions
when their ability to co-operate smoothly was demonstrated.159 By
far the largest of the five forces was the Abu Dhabi Defence Force,
with a total strength of over 9,500 men, including its small naval force
and a rapidly expanding air wing; the former TOS with a full
complement of 2,500 men became the Union Defence Force (UDF); the
393