Cutting-edge drones on display in Abu Dhabi desert


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A state-of-the-art fleet of drones took to the sky for a striking demonstration of advanced technologies in the Abu Dhabi desert on Wednesday.

The live demonstration, held at Tilal Swaihan, was part of the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference being staged in the capital.

The event showcased the latest in “swarming” aerial drones and unmanned light aircraft and ground vehicles from major manufacturers.

The live show was an opportunity to see the advanced designs take flight and offered a glimpse into their potential to boost a number of sectors, from providing military assistance to use in civilian and environmental fields.

Kungsorn, a drone made by UAE-based Cynax Labs, was put through its paces in the Abu Dhabi desert. Nilanjana Gupta / The National
Kungsorn, a drone made by UAE-based Cynax Labs, was put through its paces in the Abu Dhabi desert. Nilanjana Gupta / The National

Cutting-edge crafts such as Garmoosha by UAE defence conglomerate Edge, the mini-helicopter-style Blowfish A3, and swarm drones designed for co-ordinated combat by China's Zhuhai Ziyan were among the creations on show.

Aerial inventions were not the only creations on display, however, with a firefighting robot from Abu Dhabi Civil Defence also being put through its paces.

The Blowfish A3, for example, is made by Zhuhai Ziyan and is based on a helicopter design, which means that it gives more maneuverability and more control to the operator.

"You can also see that there are four magnetic contacts located on the landing gear," said service engineer, Sikander Azam. "What it does is that if a moving vehicle or if a ship is carrying this aircraft, it can take off automatically and follow the ship or the moving vehicle. Then it can land by itself according to the command executed by the operator using the aircraft."

The Kungsorn, a drone made by UAE-based Cynax Labs, was also put through its paces. The vertical take-off and landing drone is particularly geared to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It can operate at 4,876 metres and has a flight time of three hours.

"Our added value is that we can do facial recognition, object detection, vehicle detection, and also automatic license plate recognition," said the company's vice president, Abhijeet Darshan.

"Now for an operator who is conducting missions in the intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, this information is absolutely valuable."

The fifth annual Umex has been organised by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company in partnership with the Ministry of Defence.

The exhibition focuses on the defence, environmental, civil and humanitarian benefits of unmanned systems and is attended by regional government delegations and industry, military and civilian authorities from across the globe.

Umex drone show - in pictures

  • The Scorpio-B can be equipped with remote weapon systems, twin 40mm grenade launchers, pan-tilt-zoom cameras and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors with the possibility to mount various payloads of up to 200kg. All photos: Victor Besa / The National
    The Scorpio-B can be equipped with remote weapon systems, twin 40mm grenade launchers, pan-tilt-zoom cameras and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors with the possibility to mount various payloads of up to 200kg. All photos: Victor Besa / The National
  • The VooDoo-M Multi-Mission Thermal Sight by Pixels.
    The VooDoo-M Multi-Mission Thermal Sight by Pixels.
  • The UKRSPEC Systems drone.
    The UKRSPEC Systems drone.
  • Robotic Targets by Marathon Target Australia.
    Robotic Targets by Marathon Target Australia.
  • Abu Dhabi Police smart Police Car.
    Abu Dhabi Police smart Police Car.
  • AUH Police Smart Police Car.
    AUH Police Smart Police Car.
  • AM Industries stall.
    AM Industries stall.
  • Mahgoub Omer attaches the foam mixer of the RS3 firefighting robot by Thermite.
    Mahgoub Omer attaches the foam mixer of the RS3 firefighting robot by Thermite.
  • The Abu Dhabi Police VR Rowing Machine.
    The Abu Dhabi Police VR Rowing Machine.
  • Cristanini CBRN decontamination system.
    Cristanini CBRN decontamination system.
  • Schiebel Camcopter S-100.
    Schiebel Camcopter S-100.
  • The Kaman Kargo drone. Victor Besa / The National
    The Kaman Kargo drone. Victor Besa / The National
  • Emirati aeronautical engineers test the Interdata system at UMEX.
    Emirati aeronautical engineers test the Interdata system at UMEX.
  • The Skeldar V-150.
    The Skeldar V-150.
  • The PE-04 by Etimad.
    The PE-04 by Etimad.
  • DOK-ING presented Komodo, an innovative remote-controlled robotic system for operations in extreme nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) conditions at its headquarters in Zagreb. It is a unique machine that can operate in conditions of an open fire, explosion, collapse, high concentrations of explosive and toxic substances, as well as in terrorist threats.
    DOK-ING presented Komodo, an innovative remote-controlled robotic system for operations in extreme nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) conditions at its headquarters in Zagreb. It is a unique machine that can operate in conditions of an open fire, explosion, collapse, high concentrations of explosive and toxic substances, as well as in terrorist threats.
  • Edge's Shadow series drone is displayed on the opening day of Umex at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
    Edge's Shadow series drone is displayed on the opening day of Umex at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
  • A Hunter 2-S drone, which can be used in 'swarming' air-to-ground attacks.
    A Hunter 2-S drone, which can be used in 'swarming' air-to-ground attacks.
  • The Edge stand at Umex.
    The Edge stand at Umex.
  • The Garmoosha by Edge is displayed on the opening day of Umex.
    The Garmoosha by Edge is displayed on the opening day of Umex.
  • The QX-6, another Edge product.
    The QX-6, another Edge product.
  • An unmanned Amed Robotic Vehicle.
    An unmanned Amed Robotic Vehicle.
  • The 71S by Edge.
    The 71S by Edge.
  • The QX-3 by Edge.
    The QX-3 by Edge.
  • The Scorpio-B by Edge.
    The Scorpio-B by Edge.
  • The Edge Shadow series.
    The Edge Shadow series.
The%C2%A0specs%20
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E6-cylinder%2C%204.8-litre%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E5-speed%20automatic%20and%20manual%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E280%20brake%20horsepower%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E451Nm%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh153%2C00%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
  • not be younger than 25 years old
  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
  • be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
  • have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
  • undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Dubai World Cup factbox

Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)

Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)

Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)

Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)

Series info

Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday

ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23

T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29

Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com

Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.

Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.

'My Son'

Director: Christian Carion

Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis

Rating: 2/5

Terminator: Dark Fate

Director: Tim Miller

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis 

Rating: 3/5

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

What sanctions would be reimposed?

Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:

  • An arms embargo
  • A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
  • A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
  • A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
  • Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods

Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

Three tips from La Perle's performers

1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.

2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.

3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

GIANT REVIEW

Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan

Director: Athale

Rating: 4/5

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NBA Finals results

Game 1: Warriors 124, Cavaliers 114
Game 2: Warriors 122, Cavaliers 103
Game 3: Cavaliers 102, Warriors 110
Game 4: In Cleveland, Sunday (Monday morning UAE)

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)

Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm) 
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm) 
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm) 
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn  (4.30pm) 
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm) 
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)

Sunday, May 17

Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)

Monday, May 18

Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

Updated: February 23, 2022, 2:17 PM